R S Lester, B M Haines, H M Johns, L Kot, B J Albright, M Durocher, Y Kim, J M Levesque, K D Meaney, S A Ricketts, H F Robey, R L Scott, T J Urbatsch, C H Wilde, S T Prisbrey, O L Landen, M E Martin, M D Rosen, E Dewald, N Aybar, S Baxamusa, M E Foord, R Funchess, S Hayes, R F Heeter, K Kasman, S Khan, A L Kritcher, J J Kroll, J L Milovich, W C Montgomery, K T Olson, S Paqueo, A Pedretti, N Roskopf, N Ruof, C V Young, L M Hobbs, S Vonhof, L Aghaian, A Allen, B Cates, K Clark, J Gaut, M Havre, V Ho, C Kong, T Phipps, M Ratledge, F Silva, W Vakki, J Wall, T Fehrenbach, C Wild
The achievement of fusion ignition at the National Ignition Facility opens new opportunities for foundational studies in opacity, radiation transport, and high-flux astrophysics in regimes previously unattainable. We have succeeded in the critical enabling step of demonstrating ignition in a hohlraum modified with diagnostic windows that burn through prior to ignition, granting experimental access to the brightest radiation source in the laboratory. This Letter reports the results of a deuterium-tritium-layered capsule implosion that achieved 2.4±0.09 MJ neutron yield in a hohlraum with windows designed to allow the escape of radiation energy from the capsule without significant loss of implosion symmetry, thus establishing a validated platform for next-generation radiation-driven experiments.