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Inertial Confinement Fusion—Experimental Physics: Laser Drive

Regan, Sean P.·Campbell, E. Michael
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Abstract

Laser-driven inertial confinement fusion creates a central hot-spot plasma by irradiating a spherical target containing a thermonuclear fuel layer of deuterium (D) and tritium (T) with temporally-shaped, high-intensity lasers or X rays. Inertial confinement fusion relies on the DT-fusion alpha particles depositing their energy in a hot-spot plasma, causing its temperature to rise sharply and a thermonuclear burn wave to propagate out through the surrounding cold, dense DT fuel, producing significantly more energy than was used to heat and compress the fuel. Alpha heating has been demonstrated and burning plasma (i.e., yield amplification due to alpha heating >3.5) is being explored with megajoule-scale lasers on the path to ignition (i.e., yield amplification due to alpha heating >20)

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alpha particlesareal densitycentral hot-spot ignitioninertial confinement fusionlaser direct drivelaser indirect driveneutron yieldthermonuclear fusion

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Regan, Sean P., Campbell, E. Michael. 2021-06-23. Inertial Confinement Fusion—Experimental Physics: Laser Drive. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-819725-7.00233-6

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