Laser Revolution Overview and Status of Direct-Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
MON-1-PL1 MON-1-PL2 The Fibre Laser Revolution Overview and status of Direct-Drive Inertial Confinement Fusion David N. Payne E. M Campbell Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom SO31 4QG Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14623, USA [email protected] [email protected] Fibre lasers have been a revolution in laser technology for the manufacturing industry because of their high Laser Direct Drive (DD) is one of the three viable approaches for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) that offer a efficiency, robust, all solid state monolithic construction and reliability. The single-fibre power limit appears to potential path for high yield and ignition at the MegaJoule energy scale of the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The be around 20kW, more than enough for most applications. critical physics for direct drive is being studied on the OMEGA/OMEGA-EP and the NIF laser facilities. In the DD approach nominally identical laser beams are used to drive an imploding cryogenic shell of deuterium and tritium Fibre lasers have also caught the imagination for applications requiring beam combination up to a 100kW in the to obtain pressures exceeding 100 Gbars and temperatures greater than 5 KeV in a hot spot surrounded and near term, or multi MW in the future. Their near-perfect beam quality, stability and versatility, coupled with confined by a cold dense nearly Fermi-Degenerate fuel. Hydrodynamically scaled implosions are studied on the the low cost of the gain medium, make them ideal candidates for coherently-combining perhaps up to a 1000 30 kJ 60-beam OMEGA laser. Numerous sophisticated optical, x-ray, and neutron diagnostics measure the laser- individual fibre amplifier beams. Using optical fibre circuitry derived from telecommunications, we can envis- target coupling, implosion hydrodynamics and stagnated core conditions The goal of the OMEGA experiments is age all-fibre laser circuits and systems which are robust and transportable, with straight-forward management to obtain ignition relevant hot spot pressures in OMEGA-scale cryogenic deuterium-tritium layered implosions of heat load. The latter attribute comes from the large surface to volume ratio, the efficiency of fibre laser and and to develop a quantitative understanding of the laser and target requirements required for ignition. In the thermal stability of silica. addition to the OMEGA experiments, research on the NIF are used to address the Mega Joule scale laser-target coupling physics at ignition relevant energies and corona conditions. Physics including laser-plasma coupling, But what of the future? Surprisingly after 3 decades, we are still learning how a fibre laser actually works. Unlike nonuniformity seeding and growth, preheat from energetic electrons produced by the interaction of the laser conventional lasers, the fibre laser gain medium is customisable through a wide variety of materials, dopants and with the plasma are addressed on NIF. In this presentation the motivation, challenges, status, and path forward waveguide structures – perhaps it can be described as the first fully engineerable laser? These attributes and the of DD research will be presented and results from OMEGA and the NIF will be described. potential for virtually unlimited scalability has led to some exciting new prospects, such as space propulsion to a proportion of the speed of light, future particle accelerators and space debris clean up. This material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0001944, the University of Rochester, and the New York State Energy Research and The talk will explore the current and future limits to fibre laser technology and speculate on the future. Development Authority. MONDAY MONDAY 42 43 MON-1-PL3 Mon-2-IN1 High speed 3D printer using laser metal deposition Modifying steel surface tribology by ultrafast laser micro-texturing Y. Shiomi 1, H. Ohno1, N. Okada1, Y. Fujimaki2, Y. Fukase2, S. Fukuyama2 A. Ancona1,2, G.S. Joshi1,3, C. Gaudiuso1,3, C. Putignano1,4, M. Scaraggi5, P.M. Lugarà1,3, G. Carbone1,4 1- Corporate Manufacturing Engineering Center, Toshiba Corp., 33 Shin-Isogo-cho, Isogo-ku, Yokohama, Japan 1- CNR – Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies Bari, Physics Department “M. Merlin”, via Amendola 173, I-70126 Bari, Italy 2- Toshiba Machine Co., Ltd. 2068-3, Ooka, Numazu-shi, Shizuoka, Japan 2- Dept. of Engineering Science, University West, SE-46186 Trollhättan, Sweden 3- University of Bari, Physics Department, via Amendola 173, I-70126 Bari, Italy [email protected] 4-Politecnico di Bari, Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management, V.le Japigia 182, I-70126 Bari, Italy 5- Department of Engineering for Innovation, Università del Salento, I-73100 Monteroni-Lecce, Italy A prototype of LMD (laser metal deposition) 3D printer was developed to improve building speed and accuracy as shown in Figure 1(a). The prototype consists of a 6kW fiber laser, a metal powder feeding system with inert [email protected] gas, a powder focusing nozzle, 3-axes control system and an inert gas chamber. A laser beam introduced into the building chamber through an optical fiber is focused on a workpiece at a diameter between 0.2 and 3.0 mm. Surfaces topography influences significantly the frictional behaviour of a tribo-pair. Understanding the physical Metal powders carried with inert gas are focused onto the workpiece with a powder nozzle at a diameter as small mechanisms governing friction and wear in relation to the surface morphology both at the micro- and nanoscale as 0.7 mm as shown in Figure 1 (b). Subsequently, the metal powders are melted by laser beam to build layers is still a challenge. Nonetheless, important progresses have been achieved in the last decade thanks to the as shown in Figure 1 (c). Inert gas can be introduced into the chamber reducing content of oxygen to less than development of the surface texturing technology [1]. Among the different technologies available to fabricate 50 ppm. The maximum building size is 300 x 300 x 160 mm. The highest building speed at a laser power of 4 kW micrometric surface textures, ultrafast laser ablation is one of the most flexible and reliable, enabling to achieve was 359 cm3/ h for 100 x 100 x 10 mm workpiece of Inconel 718. Accuracy of the size of column workpiece was a high level of precision. Furthermore, being substantially melting free, femtosecond laser ablation avoids +/- 30 mm. creation of burrs on the edges of the ablated structures, which could be detrimental to the desired tribological behavior. Thus, no further polishing of the samples is required after the laser treatment and before tribological characterization. In this work, we review our most recent results on the fs-laser texturing, morphological and tribological characterization of steel surfaces with enhanced and controlled frictional properties under lubricated sliding contact. Physical interpretation of the experimental findings is provided, based on the results of numerical simulations solving flow dynamics equations. We show that regular patterns of circular micro-dimples on a metal surface may significantly reduce friction during sliding lubricated contact from the boundary to the hydrodynamic lubrication regimes [2]. It is assumed that the dimples can serve either as micro-hydrodynamic bearing in cases of full or mixed lubrication, as micro-reservoir for lubricant in cases of starved lubrication conditions, or as micro- (a) (b) (c) trap for wear debris in either lubricated or dried sliding. However, dimples with aspect ratios exceeding an optimal Figure 1 Photographs of LMD 3D printer prototype (a) Outlook of the 3D printer. The maximum size of building parts is 300 x 300 x 160 value may result in a friction increase due to the formation of eddy-like flows at their bottom which dissipate mm. Inert gas including nitrogen or argon is introduced to the building chamber. (b) Powder focusing nozzle. Metal powders are focused with the nozzle at a diameter as small as 0.7 mm. (c) Building process. Metal powders melted by laser beam form layers. part of the energy [3]. Non-uniform or anisotropic texture designs are shown to produce friction reduction or increase according to sliding direction [4]. Furthermore, a non-uniform inclination and spatial distribution of Parts built with the present prototype are shown in Figure 2. An overhung forked pipe of Inconel 718 is striped micro-dimples enables a collective flow action on the macroscale redirecting part of the lubricant to shown in Figure 2(a). A cross-mesh structure of SUS 316L with a line width as small as 0.3 mm built with tightly convey to the textured surface enhanced load support capabilities [5]. focused laser beam is shown in Figure 2(b). “Laser polished” as-built surface was improved in roughness, Ra, from 14.1 mm to 3.9 mm as shown in Figure 2 (c). Hollow structure of SUS 316L built by removing support material Acknowledgments: This work was carried out in the framework of the LASER4FUN project (http://www.laser4fun. of carbon steel is shown in Figure 2 (d). eu), which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme MONDAY under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Grant Agreement No 675063. MONDAY [1] I. Etsion (2012) Handbook of Lubrication and Tribology, Vol. II: Theory and Design, 2nd edn. (CRC Press), Chap. 53 Surface texturing [2] M. Scaraggi, F. Mezzapesa, G. Carbone, A. Ancona, L. Tricarico (2013) Friction properties of lubricated laser-microtextured-surfaces: an experimental study from boundary- to hydrodynamic-lubrication, Tribology Letters, 49, 117-125. polished [3] M. Scaraggi, F.P. Mezzapesa, G. Carbone, A. Ancona, D. Sorgente, P.M. Lugarà (2014) Minimize friction of lubricated laser-microtextured- surfaces by tuning microholes depth, Tribology International, 75, 123-127.