Los Alamos Progress toward Achieving DT Burn on the National Ignition Facility

Focusing on beryllium capsules, Los Alamos works toward ignition on the NIF, a first step to fusion power. Theory and experiments are giving us a greater understanding of laser plasma instabilities (SBS and SRS). A 1D Kirkpatrick-Baez microscope with < 1 μm resolution has been designed to observe shock timing. Tetrahedral hohlraum implosion experiments are being executed on Omega with symmetry better than cylindrical hohlraums on NIF. Understanding capsule instability growth, and experimentally testing it, is leading to new designs. The first NIF size beryllium capsule has been built from copper brazed hemispheres. Measurements of DT ice on beryllium show adequate smoothness and temperature cycling can reduce it further.