Comparison of plastic, high density carbon, and beryllium as indirect drive NIF ablators

Detailed radiation hydrodynamic simulations calibrated to experimental data have been used to compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of three candidate indirect drive ablator materials now tested at the NIF: plastic, high density carbon or diamond, and beryllium. We apply a common simulation methodology to several currently fielded ablator platforms to benchmark the model and extrapolate designs to the full NIF envelope to compare on a more equal footing. This paper focuses on modeling of the hohlraum energetics which accurately reproduced measured changes in symmetry when changes to the hohlraum environment were made within a given platform. Calculations suggest that all three ablator materials can achieve a symmetric implosion at a capsule outer radius of ∼1100 μm, a laser energy of 1.8 MJ, and a DT ice mass of 185 μg. However, there is more uncertainty in the symmetry predictions for the plastic and beryllium designs. Scaled diamond designs had the most calculated margin for achieving symmetry a...