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X-Ray Tomography of Growing Silica Gel with a Density Gradient

N. G. Borisenko, A. A. Akunets, I. A. Artyukov, K. E. Gorodnichev, Yu. A. Merkuliev

Fusion Science and Technology / Volume 55 / Number 4 / May 2009 / Pages 477-483

Technical Paper / Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting / dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A7430

Density gradient laser targets with decreasing density or increasing stepwise density layers were reported in experimental and theoretical papers on astrophysics modeling, equation-of-state (EOS), and shock-wave dynamics studies. The research with targets of smooth density gradient is due. The experiments with gel-catalyst concentration diffusion are discussed for density gradient foam formation. We used multi-image X-ray tomography for measurement of the silica gel layer density gradient in the process of its growth. Gel with a density gradient growing from a flat boundary between a gel-forming solution and a catalyst solution has been investigated through a set of three-dimensional frames of an X-ray computer microtomograph. Laser targets require high (>1 gcm-3/cm) density gradients of the spatial profile for EOS experiments. The first targets from silica aerogel with a density gradient are demonstrated. Yet these targets perform less density gradient (<0.1 gcm-3/cm) than is required for pressure multiplication in EOS targets.