We report direct experimental evidence of interspecies ion separation in direct-drive, inertial-confinement-fusion experiments on the OMEGA laser facility. These experiments, which used plastic capsules with D2/Ar gas fill (1% Ar by atom), were designed specifically to reveal interspecies ion separation by exploiting the predicted, strong ion thermo-diffusion between ion species of large mass and charge difference. Via detailed analyses of imaging x-ray-spectroscopy data, we extract Ar-atom-fraction radial profiles at different times, and observe both enhancement and depletion compared to the initial 1%-Ar gas fill. The experimental results are interpreted with radiation-hydrodynamic simulations that include recently implemented, first-principles models of interspecies ion diffusion. The experimentally inferred Ar-atom-fraction profiles agree reasonably, but not exactly, with calculated profiles associated with the incoming and rebounding first shock. * * * We acknowledge R. Aragonez, T. Archuleta, J. Cobble, J. Fooks, V. Glebov, M. Schoff, T. Sedillo, C. Sorce, R. Staerker, N. Whiting, B. Yaakobi, and the OMEGA operations team for their support in experimental planning, execution, and providing processed x-ray and neutron data.

We report first direct experimental evidence of interspecies ion separation in direct-drive ICF experiments performed at the OMEGA laser facility via spectrally, temporally and spatially resolved imaging x-rayspectroscopy data [S. C. Hsu et al., EPL 115, 65001 (2016)]. These experiments were designed based on the expectation that interspecies ion thermo-diffusion would be strongest for species with large mass and charge difference. The targets were spherical plastic shells filled with D 2 and a trace amount of Ar (0.1% or 1% by atom). Ar K-shell spectral features were observed primarily between the time of first-shock convergence and slightly before neutron bang time, using a time-and space-integrated spectrometer, a streaked crystal spectrometer, and two gated multi-monochromatic x-ray imagers fielded along quasi-orthogonal lines of sight. Detailed spectroscopic analyses of spatially resolved Ar K-shell lines reveal deviation from the initial 1% Ar gas fill and show both Ar-concentration enhancement and depletion at different times and radial positions of the implosion. The experimental results are interpreted with radiation-hydrodynamic simulations that include recently implemented, first-principles models of interspecies ion diffusion. The experimentally inferred Aratom fraction profiles agree reasonably with calculated profiles associated with the incoming and rebounding first shock.

Temporally, spatially, and spectrally resolved x-ray image data from direct-drive implosions on OMEGA were interpreted with the aid of radiation-hydrodynamic simulations. Neither clean calculations nor those using a turbulent mix model can explain fully the observed migration of shell-dopant material (titanium) into the core. Shell-dopant migration was observed via time-dependent, spatially integrated spectra, and spatially and spectrally resolved x-ray images of capsule implosions and resultant dopant emissions. The titanium emission was centrally peaked in narrowband x-ray images. In post-processed clean simulations, the peak titanium emission forms in a ring in self-emission images as the capsule implodes. Post-processed simulations with mix reproduce trends in time-dependent, spatially integrated spectra, as well having centrally peaked Ti emission in synthetic multiple monochromatic imager. However, mix simulations still do not transport Ti to the core as is observed in the experiment. This suggests that phenomena in addition to the turbulent mix must be responsible for the transport of Ti. Simple diffusion estimates are unable to explain the early Ti mix into the core. Mechanisms suggested for further study are capsule surface roughness, illumination non-uniformity, and shock entrainment.

In an effort to understand the effect of ultrasound on the devulcanization of gum and filled isoprene rubber vulcanizates, solid state NMR 1 H transverse relaxation (T 2 ) was employed to analyze rubber molecular mobility. The T 2 relaxation decay of the unfilled and the black filled IR was successfully described by a two-component model. The short T 2 component arose from the chemically crosslinked (gel) and physically entangled (heavy sol) network. The long T 2 decay came from the unentangled sol and dangling network chain ends. Vulcanization decreased the molecular mobility; however, ultrasound devulcanization partially reversed this effect. Addition of processing oil in the filled IR significantly altered the dependence of T 2 on the sol fraction. T 2 and pulsed-gradient diffusion experiments were carried out on IR melt specimens after sonication with or without subsequent vulcanization. The lowered and broadened M-distribution produced results quantitatively related to earlier work in natural rubber. * Corresponding

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