To reach the pressures and densities required for ignition, it may be necessary to develop an approach to design that makes it easier for simulations to guide experiments. Here, we report on a new short-pulse inertial confinement fusion platform that is specifically designed to be more predictable. The platform has demonstrated $99\%+0.5\%$ laser coupling into the hohlraum, high implosion velocity ($411\mathrm{km}/\mathrm{s}$), high hotspot pressure ($220+60\mathrm{Gbar}$), and high cold fuel areal density compression ratio ($>400$), while maintaining controlled implosion symmetry, providing a promising new physics platform to study ignition physics.

• Received 24 January 2018
• Revised 14 July 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.135001