In a number of experiments, stimulated Brillouin (SBS) or Raman backscattering (SRS) has been observed to be much more vigorous than the other although the expectations based on linear gain exponents are that they should both be reflecting large amounts of incident light. Multidimensional fluid simulations of the growth and saturation of these two instabilities driven by a nonuniform incident laser beam are presented. On the fast time scale, the nonlinear saturation occurs via an anomalous damping inspired by fundamental studies of Langmuir turbulence [D. F. DuBois et al., Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 41, 1531 (1996)] and acoustic wave turbulence [B. I. Cohen et al., Phys. Plasmas 4, 956 (1997)]. Over a longer time scale, SRS and SBS are limited by quasilinear processes such as flows induced by the transfer of momentum from the light to the plasma and ion temperature increases caused by a loss of light energy in SBS. The simulations show a reduction of the SBS reflectivity under conditions of strong SRS reflectivity even if the laser energy is not depleted. The recent observations of decreasing SBS reflectivity with increasing plasma density [D. S. Montgomery, Phys. Plasmas 5, 1973 (1998)] are shown to be consistent with linear theory and nonlinear simulations of SBS provided the increasing levels of SRS are included. Because the reflectivity is produced by scattering in intense hotspots, where the local reflectivity can be very large, the SBS and SRS can be anticorrelated even when the total scattering is quite modest.

Fully non-linear kinetic simulations of electron plasma and ion acoustic waves (IAWs) have been carried out with a new multi-species, parallelized Vlasov code. The numerical implementation of the Vlasov model and the methods used to compute the wave frequency are described in detail. For the first time, the nonlinear frequency of IAWs, combining the contributions from electron and ion kinetic effects and from harmonic generation, has been calculated and compared to Vlasov results. Excellent agreement of theory with simulation results is shown at all amplitudes, harmonic generation being an essential component at large amplitudes. For IAWs, the positive frequency shift from trapped electrons is confirmed and is dominant for the effective electron-to-ion temperature ratio, Z Te/Ti ≳ 10 with Z as the charge state. Furthermore, numerical results demonstrate unambiguously the dependence [R. L. Dewar, Phys. Fluids 15, 712 (1972)] of the kinetic shifts on details of the distribution of the trapped particles, which depends in turn on the conditions under which the waves were generated. The trapped particle fractions and energy distributions are derived and, upon inclusion of harmonic effects, shown to agree with the simulation results, completing a consistent picture. Fluid models of the wave evolution are considered but prove unable to capture essential details of the kinetic simulations. Detrapping by collisions and sideloss is also discussed.

Abstract-Parallel machines are becoming more complex with increasing core counts and more heterogeneous architectures. However, the commonly used parallel programming models, C/C++ with MPI and/or OpenMP, make it difficult to write source code that is easily tuned for many targets. Newer language approaches attempt to ease this burden by providing optimization features such as automatic load balancing, overlap of computation and communication, message-driven execution, and implicit data layout optimizations. In this paper, we compare several implementations of LULESH, a proxy application for shock hydrodynamics, to determine strengths and weaknesses of different programming models for parallel computation. We focus on four traditional (OpenMP, MPI, MPI+OpenMP, CUDA) and four emerging (Chapel, Charm++, Liszt, Loci) programming models. In evaluating these models, we focus on programmer productivity, performance and ease of applying optimizations.

Recent experiments conducted at the National Ignition Facility achieved two main goals: providing radiation drive and symmetry suitable for subsequent ignition experiments. Of the many diagnostics fielded, one provided a time-resolved wavelength spectrum of light reflected from the target by stimulated Raman scatter (SRS). SRS occurs when incident light reflects off self-generated electron plasma waves. Analyses indicate that synthetic SRS spectra better match those of experiments when an atomic physics model with greater emissivity is utilized in target modeling, along with less inhibited electron transport (higher flux, with, ideally, nonlocal electron transport). With these models, SRS occurs in a target region where nearest-neighbor quads of laser beams significantly overlap the diagnosed quad. This increases SRS gain at lower density (lower wavelength), a feature consistent with experimental results. Inclusion of this effect of multiple quads sharing a reflected SRS light wave has resulted in improved capabilities used to successfully predict (preshot) the SRS spectrum from the first target driven with 1.25 MJ of laser energy. Additional resonant amplification of SRS light in the overlap intensity region is demonstrated in beam propagation simulations. Such effects will be reduced in a target optimized for these less dense and cooler plasma conditions.

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Laser-plasma interactions are sensitive to both the fine-scale speckle and the larger scale envelope intensity of the beam.

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A capability to analyze laser-plasma interactions (LPI) for ignition targets to be fielded at the National Ignition Facility has been developed and exercised. LPI in these targets may cause direct energy loss (backscatter) or energy redirection (beam spray, deflection, and energy transfer). These analyses range from analyzing the gain exponents for backscatter and beam spray to performing massively parallel, three-dimensional simulations of laser beam propagation in the most promising candidate ignition target designs. In the former assessment, ignition designs are iterated to reduce the gain exponent values. In the latter, beam propagation simulations are performed to analyze the reflectivity and beam transmission of speckled laser beams in the computed plasma profiles of the ignition targets. In current ignition designs, laser reflectivity is calculated to be well below 10%.