Laboratory generation of strong magnetic fields opens new frontiers in plasma and beam physics, astro- and solar-physics, materials science, and atomic and molecular physics. Although kilotesla magnetic fields have already been produced by magnetic flux compression using an imploding metal tube or plasma shell, accessibility at multiple points and better controlled shapes of the field are desirable. Here we have generated kilotesla magnetic fields using a capacitor-coil target, in which two nickel disks are connected by a U-turn coil. A magnetic flux density of 1.5 kT was measured using the Faraday effect 650 μm away from the coil, when the capacitor was driven by two beams from the GEKKO-XII laser (at 1 kJ (total), 1.3 ns, 0.53 or 1 μm, and 5 × 1016 W/cm2).

Abstract. Fast Ignition Inertial Confinement Fusion is a variant of inertial fusion in which DT fuel is first compressed to high density and then ignited by a relativistic electron beam generated by a fast (< 20 ps) ultra-intense laser pulse, which is usually brought in to the dense plasma via the inclusion of a re-entrant cone. The transport of this beam from the cone apex into the dense fuel is a critical part of this scheme, as it can strongly influence the overall energetics. Here we review progress in the theory and numerical simulation of fast electron transport in the context of Fast Ignition. Important aspects of the basic plasma physics, descriptions of the numerical methods used, a review of ignition-scale simulations, and a survey of schemes for controlling the propagation of fast electrons are included. Considerable progress has taken place in this area, but the development of a robust, high-gain FI 'point design' is still an ongoing challenge.

Using one of the world most powerful laser facility, we demonstrate for the first time that high-contrast multi-picosecond pulses are advantageous for proton acceleration. By extending the pulse duration from 1.5 to 6 ps with fixed laser intensity of 1018 W cm−2, the maximum proton energy is improved more than twice (from 13 to 33 MeV). At the same time, laser-energy conversion efficiency into the MeV protons is enhanced with an order of magnitude, achieving 5% for protons above 6 MeV with the 6 ps pulse duration. The proton energies observed are discussed using a plasma expansion model newly developed that takes the electron temperature evolution beyond the ponderomotive energy in the over picoseconds interaction into account. The present results are quite encouraging for realizing ion-driven fast ignition and novel ion beamlines.

Electron energy characteristics generated by the irradiation of ultraintense laser pulses onto solid targets are controlled by using cone targets. Two parameters characterizing the laser-cone interaction are introduced, which are cone angle and the ratio of the laser spot size to the cone tip size. By changing these parameters, the energy absorption rate, laser irradiance at the cone tip, and electron acceleration at the cone tip and side wall are controlled. The optimum cone targets for fast ignition are 30° cone angle with double-cone geometry, and a tip size comparable to the core size, with the irradiation of a laser pulse with a spot size of about four times the cone tip size. Cone targets have the possibility to enhance the maximum energy of laser-accelerated protons by using a smaller angle cone depending on the laser f-number.

The effect of pre-plasma on core heating in cone-guiding fast ignition is evaluated by two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) and Fokker–Planck (FP) simulations. If the long-scale pre-plasma exists in the cone, the generated fast electron energy becomes too high for effective core heating. As a result, the energy coupling from laser to core ηL→core is reduced by 80% compared with the case without a pre-plasma. Even for the case without a pre-plasma, ηL→core obtained in the simulation is smaller than that required for 5 keV heating in FIREX-I. In order to enhance ηL→core, we propose a new target design ‘extended double cone with short inner cone wall’ for fast electron guiding to imploded core and show sufficient improvement of heating efficiency using this new cone on the basis of PIC and FP hydro-simulations.