Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses

S.D. Baton, M. Koenig, E. Brambrink, H.-P. Schlenvoigt, C. Rousseaux, G. Debras, S. Laffite, P. Loiseau, F. Philippe, X. Ribeyre and G. Schurtz

The capacity to launch a strong shock wave in a compressed target in the presence of large preplasma has been investigated experimentally and numerically in a planar geometry. The experiment was performed on the LULI 2000 laser facility using one laser beam to compress the target and a second to launch the strong shock simulating the intensity spike in the shock ignition scheme. Thanks to a large set of diagnostics, it has been possible to compare accurately experimental results with 2D numerical simulations. A good agreement has been observed even if a more detailed study of the laser-plasma interaction for the spike is necessary in order to confirm that this scheme is a possible alternative for inertial confinement fusion.