Abstract: Highlights from research done on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser through the Discovery Science program will be presented. Plasma nuclear reactions relevant to stellar nucleosynthesis and nuclear reactions in high energy astrophysical scenarios are being studied. [1] Equations of state (EOS) at very high pressures (0.1-100 TPa or 1-1000 Mbar) relevant to planetary cores, brown dwarf interiors, and white dwarf envelopes are being measured on NIF, and show that the level of ionization can significantly affect the compressibility of the sample. [2-6] Studies of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities in planar and cylindrical geometries at high Reynolds number, relevant to supernovae explosions and ICF implosions, are being investigated. [7-12] Relativistically hot plasmas [13,14] and target-normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) of protons [15-17] are also being studied on the NIF ARC laser. Experiments to study magnetic reconnection at high energy densities are underway. [18] High velocity, low density interpenetrating plasmas that generate collisionless astrophysical shocks, magnetic fields, bursts of neutrons, and that accelerate particles relevant to cosmic ray generation are also being studied on NIF. [19-21] And NIF experiments have demonstrated strong suppression of heat conduction in a laboratory replica of galaxy-cluster turbulent plasmas. [22] A selection from these results will be presented and a path forward suggested.
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