Laser beam smoothing and backscatter saturation processes in plasmas relevant to National Ignition Facility hohlraums

We have used gas-filled targets irradiated at the Nova laser to simulate National Ignition Facility (NlF) hohlraum plasmas and to study the dependence of Stimulated Raman (SRS) and Brillouin (SBS) Scattering on beam smoothing at a range of laser intensities (3{omega}, 2 - 4 10{sup 15}Wcm{sup -2}) and plasma conditions. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of polarization smoothing as a potential upgrade to the NIF. Experiments with higher intensities and higher densities characteristic of 350eV hohlraum designs indicate that with appropriate beam smoothing the backscatter from such hohlraums may be tolerable.