Laser program development at CEL-V: overview of recent experimental results

A significant effort has been made recently at CEL-V to improve laser facilities. OCTAL, the eight beam, 2 kJ laser, has been equipped with phosphate glass and KDP frequency tripling systems. PHEBUS, a two beam 20 kJ neodymium glass laser based on NOVA technology was denned and built and will be tested in early 1986 in close collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In the field of diagnostics, the development of soft X-ray emission analysis has been emphasized. Most of the recent experimental results have been obtained at a short wave-length (0·35 μm). They deal with the effect of non-uniform illumination, 2D hydrodynamics with either plane or spherical targets, and the study of thermal transport inhibition.