Shock ignition of thermonuclear fuel with high areal densities

• Published in: Journal of physics. Conference series Vol. 112; no. 2; p. 022024
• Main Authors: Betti, R, Theobald, W, Zhou, C D, Anderson, K S, McKenty, P W, Skupsky, S, Shvarts, D, Goncharov, V N, Delettrez, J A, Radha, P B, Sangster, T C, Stoeckl, C, Meyerhofer, D D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.05.2008
• Subjects: Fuels; Ignition; Implosions; Inertial confinement fusion; Kinetic energy; Nuclear fuels; Physics
• ISSN: 1742-6596; 1742-6588; 1742-6596
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/112/2/022024

In thick shell implosions, most of the kinetic energy is used to assemble the cold fuel rather than to heat the hot spot. A significant increase in the hot-spot compression and reduction of the driver energy required for ignition can be accomplished by launching a shock during the final stage of the implosion. In direct-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF), the ignitor shock can be launched by a power spike at the end of the laser pulse. For targets with the same adiabat and implosion velocities, the laser energy required for ignition is significantly lower for shock-ignition ICF than for standard ICF.