Performance of the pulse flash lamp in the laser inertial confinement fusion

Summary form only given. As a radiation pumping source, pulse flash lamp is widely used in laser inertial confinement fusion (LICF). Radiation efficiency and lifetime are the core problems in the research of flash lamp. Radiation is produced by plasma when voltage breakdown occurs in the flash lamp, and lifetime is closely related to the shock wave of plasma. Though many studies have been carried out on this subject, there is few systematical reports on the influences of plasma on the radiation efficiency and lifetime of the flash lamp.In this work, the processes of plasma discharge channel evolution and the shock wave generation are investigated. A high-speed camera (phantom V10) and an accelerometer (PCB piezotronics MODEL 352 C04) were used to record the evolution processes of discharge channel and shock wave, respectively. Meanwhile, radiation is measured by a high current phototube (GD51Q). The results show that plasma discharge channel is more easily generated at higher electric filed, which also leads to more powerful shock wave. The shock wave can be only observed in the initial stage of plasma. Radiation efficiency can be improved by applying a predischarge because of its benefit to a more uniform plasma pattern.