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  1. null (Ed.)
  2. null (Ed.)
    Inertial confinement fusion approaches involve the creation of high-energy-density states through compression. High gain scenarios may be enabled by the beneficial heating from fast electrons produced with an intense laser and by energy containment with a high-strength magnetic field. Here, we report experimental measurements from a configuration integrating a magnetized, imploded cylindrical plasma and intense laser-driven electrons as well as multi-stage simulations that show fast electrons transport pathways at different times during the implosion and quantify their energy deposition contribution. The experiment consisted of a CH foam cylinder, inside an external coaxial magnetic field of 5 T, that was imploded using 36 OMEGA laser beams. Two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic modelling predicts the CH density reaches 9.0   g cm − 3 , the temperature reaches 920 eV and the external B-field is amplified at maximum compression to 580 T. At pre-determined times during the compression, the intense OMEGA EP laser irradiated one end of the cylinder to accelerate relativistic electrons into the dense imploded plasma providing additional heating. The relativistic electron beam generation was simulated using a 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) code. Finally, three-dimensional hybrid-PIC simulations calculated the electron propagation and energy deposition inside the target and revealed the roles the compressed and self-generated B-fields play in transport. During a time window before the maximum compression time, the self-generated B-field on the compression front confines the injected electrons inside the target, increasing the temperature through Joule heating. For a stronger B-field seed of 20 T, the electrons are predicted to be guided into the compressed target and provide additional collisional heating. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Prospects for high gain inertial fusion energy (part 2)’. 
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  4. Exoplanet science has moved rapidly beyond its initial observational discovery phase with an emerging enterprise of understanding planet formation, evolution, structure and habitability. Understanding conditions in planetary interiors is essential to all of these issues. The evolving state of a planet’s deep interior will determine not only bulk physical characteristics like density and radius but also whetherdynamo and plate tectonics canoccur, both of which may be key to understanding the potential for a rich and detectablebiosphere.But understanding planetary interiors depends on understandingmatter under extreme pressures. This takes researchers into new regimes of physics which in turn, demand new methods. Material underMegabar pressures represents a frontier domain of plasma physics called Warm Dense Matter (WDM) which has recently become accessible via direct laboratory studies. In this white paper we review the state of exoplanet interior studies and the ability of High Energy Density Plasma (HEDP) WDM techniques to address critical open issues. 
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