Ultraviolet Thomson scattering has been fielded at the Omega Laser Facility to achieve accurate measurements of the plasma conditions in laser-produced high-temperature plasmas. Recent applications to hohlraum targets that have been filled with CH gas or SiO{sub 2} foams have demonstrated a new high temperature plasma regime of importance to laser-plasma interaction studies in a strongly damped regime such as those occurring in indirect drive inertial confinement fusion experiments. The Thomson scattering spectra show the collective ion acoustic features that fit the theory for two ion species plasmas and from which we infer the electron and ion temperature. We find that the electron temperature scales from 2-4 keV when increasing the heater beam energy into the hohlraum from 8-17 kJ, respectively. Simultaneous measurements of the stimulated Raman scattering from a green 527 nm interaction beam show that the reflectivity decreases from 20% to 1% indicating that this instability is strongly damped at high temperatures. These findings support green laser beams as possible driver option for laser-driven fusion experiments.

An ultraviolet high-energy Thomson scattering probe beam has been implemented on the Omega laser facility at the University of Rochester. The new probe operates at a wavelength of 264nm, with a maximum energy of 260J in a pulselength of 1ns. The probe is focused with an F/6.7 lens to a minimum focal spot of 40{micro}m within a pointing tolerance of

We experimentally demonstrate that application of laser smoothing schemes including smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD) and polarization smoothing (PS) increases the intensity range for efficient coupling of frequency doubled (527 nm) laser light to a long scalelength plasma with n{sub e}/n{sub cr} = 0.14 and T{sub e} = 2 keV.

We developed a reduced description of kinetic effects that is included in a fluid model of stimulated Brillouin backscattering (SBS) in low Z plasmas (e.g. He, Be). Following hybrid-PIC simulations, the modified ion distribution function is parametrized by the width {delta} of the plateau created by trapping around the phase velocity of the SBS-driven acoustic wave. An evolution equation is derived for {delta}, which affects SBS through a frequency shift and a reduced Landau damping. This model recovers the linear Landau damping value for small waves and the time-asymptotic nonlinear frequency shift calculated by Morales and O'Neil. Finally we compare our reduced model with Bzohar simulations of a Be plasma representative of experiments that have shown evidence of ion trapping.

Recently the first hohlraum experiments have been performed at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in support of indirect drive Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) designs. The effects of laser beam smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD) and polarization smoothing (PS) on the beam propagation in long scale gas-filled pipes has been studied at plasma scales as found in indirect drive gas filled ignition hohlraum designs. The long scale gas-filled target experiments have shown propagation over 7 mm of dense plasma without filamentation and beam break up when using full laser smoothing. Vacuum hohlraums have been irradiated with laser powers up to 6 TW, 1-9 ns pulse lengths and energies up to 17 kJ to activate several diagnostics, to study the hohlraum radiation temperature scaling with the laser power and hohlraum size, and to make contact with hohlraum experiments performed at the NOVA and Omega laser facilities. Subsequently, novel long laser pulse hohlraum experiments have tested models of hohlraum plasma filling and long pulse hohlraum radiation production. The validity of the plasma filling assessment in analytical models and in LASNEX calculations has been proven for the first time. The comparison of these results with modeling will be discussed.

The dispersion of ion-acoustic fluctuations has been measured using a novel technique that employs multiple color Thomson-scattering diagnostics to measure the frequency spectrum for two separate thermal ion-acoustic fluctuations with significantly different wave vectors. The plasma fluctuations are shown to become dispersive with increasing electron temperature. We demonstrate that this technique allows a time resolved local measurement of electron density and temperature in inertial confinement fusion plasmas.

Thomson scattering has been shown to be a valuable technique for measuring the plasma conditions in laser produced plasmas. Measurement techniques are discussed that use the ion-acoustic frequency measured from the collective Thomson-scattering spectrum to extract the electron temperature, ion temperature, plasma flow, and electron density in a laser produced plasma. In a recent study, they demonstrated a novel Thomson-scattering technique to measure the dispersion of ion-acoustic fluctuations that employing multiple color Thomson-scattering diagnostics. They obtained frequency-resolved Thomson-scattering spectra of the two separate thermal ion-acoustic fluctuations with significantly different wave vectors. This new technique allows a simultaneous time resolved local measurement of electron density and temperature. The plasma fluctuations are shown to become dispersive with increasing electron temperature. Furthermore, a Thomson-scattering technique to measure the electron temperature profile is presented where recent experiments have measured a large electron temperature gradient (Te = 1.4 keV to Te = 3.2 keV over 1.5-mm) along the axis of a 2-mm long hohlraum when heated asymmetrically.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF), operating at green (2{omega}) light, has the potential to drive ignition targets with significantly more energy than the 1.8 MJ it will produce in its baseline, blue (3{omega}) operations. This results in a greatly increased ''target design space'', providing a number of exciting opportunities for fusion research including the possibility of ignition experiments with capsules absorbing energies in the vicinity of 1 MJ. We report the progress made exploring 2{omega} for NIF ignition, including potential 2{omega} laser performance, 2{omega} ignition target designs and 2{omega} Laser Plasma Interaction (LPI) studies.