Thermal decoupling of deuterium and tritium during the ICF shock-convergence phase

A series of thin glass-shell shock-driven DT gas-filled capsule implosions was conducted at the OMEGA laser facility. These experiments generate conditions relevant to the central plasma during the shock-convergence phase of ablatively-driven ICF implosions. The spectral temperatures inferred from the DTn and DDn spectra are most consistent with a two-ion-temperature plasma, where the initial apparent temperature ratio, TT/TD, is 1.5. This is the first experimental conrfimation of the long standing conjecture that plasma shocks couple energy directly proportional to the species mass in multi-ion plasmas. The apparent temperature ratio trend with equilibration time matches expected thermal equilibration described by hydrodynamic theory. This indicates that deuterium and tritium ions have didifferent energy distributions for the time period surrounding shock-convergence in ignition-relevant ICF implosions.