The science applications of the high-energy density plasmas created on the Nova laser

Since the late 1970s it has been realized that the laser-heated hohlraums envisioned for indirect drive Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) could also serve as ''physics factories'' by providing a high-energy density environment for the study of a wide variety of physics with important applications. In this review we will describe some of these studies, accomplished in the early 1990s using the Nova laser [J. T. Hunt and D. R. Speck, Opt. Eng. 28, 461 (1989)] at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. They include measuring the opacity of Fe, thus confirming that the OPAL low Z opacity code [C. A. Iglesias and F. J. Rogers, Astrophys. J. 443, 460 (1995)] is quantitatively more accurate than ''standard'' models, with important astrophysical implications such as modeling the Cepheid variables [F. J. Rogers and C. A. Iglesias, Science 263, 50 (1994)]; measuring the Rosseland mean opacity of Au, confirming the correctness of the ''Super Transition Array'' (STA) high-Z code [Bar Shalom et al., Phys. Rev. A 40, 3183 (1989)] with important implications for ignition targets designed for the National Ignition Facility (NIF); sophisticated Rayleigh-Taylor and other hydrodynamic turbulence experiments and analysis that serve as a test bed for understanding astrophysical observations such as supernova explosions; using laboratory x-ray lasers for probing high-density ICF plasmas as well as biology; and creating near Gbar pressures [Cauble et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2102 (1993)]. Expanded opportunities for such research on the NIF will also be described. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.