DOE OSTI ยท 3016900
Enhancements in Laser-Direct-Drive Nuclear Performance with Target Radius
Abstract
Inertial confinement fusion is likely to require significant improvements in technology and design for large targets to implode at high driver energies. Here, to assess the potential for benefits, we report on nuclear performance as a function of target radius ๐ t in direct-drive cryogenic implosions as performed on the OMEGA laser. The neutron yield and areal density are found to increase as ๐ 5.0ยฑ0.2 t and ๐ 1.8ยฑ0.2 t , respectively, and exhibit a much stronger dependence on target radius than previous studies have assumed. As this paper demonstrates, these types of sensitivities should be expected when implosions are unstable, and have been degraded by a range of multidimensional effects in 3D. If the imperfections in a target and laser system are fixed in magnitude, it follows that larger implosions have higher relative quality, and approach criteria to ignite much more quickly than commonly appreciated.
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Thomas, C. A. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000231312491), Theobald, W. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States); Focused Energy GmbH, Darmstadt (Germany)] (ORCID:0000000304149999), Knauer, J. P. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Stoeckl, C. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000153755800), Rosenberg, M. J. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:000000029924304X), Regan, S. P. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Collins, T. J. B. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000226142459), Goncharov, V. N. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Betti, R. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Froula, D. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Deeney, C. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Anderson, K. S. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000292484545), Bauer, K. A. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Bonino, M. J. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Cao, D. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000310852322), Craxton, R. S. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000158858227), Edgell, D. H. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:000000024626519X), Epstein, R. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000340628444), Fess, S. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Forrest, C. J. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:000000026288322X), Glebov, V. Yu. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Gopalaswamy, V. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Harding, D. R. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Igumenshchev, I. V. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Ivancic, S. T. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000194724226), Jacobs-Perkins, D. W. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Janezic, R. T. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Joshi, T. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000322188190), Koch, M. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Kwiatkowski, J. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Lees, A. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000345734035), Marshall, F. J. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Michalko, M. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0009000243429379), Morse, S. F. B. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000273952438), Patel, D. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000312044468), Peebles, J. L. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000164883277), Radha, P. B. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000154731632), Rinderknecht, H. G. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000349695571), Sampat, S. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Sangster, T. C. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Shah, R. C. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)], Shmayda, W. T. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000329490341), Turnbull, D. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000298871028), Williams, C. A. [Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000224819008), Campbell, E. M. [Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States); MCM Consultants, San Diego, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000212206538), Christopherson, A. R. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Xcimer Energy, Redwood City, CA (United States)], Tabak, M. [Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0009000179675750), Alexander, N. B. [General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000289339662), Farrell, M. P. [General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)], Shuldberg, C. [General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000297605991). 2026-01-26. Enhancements in Laser-Direct-Drive Nuclear Performance with Target Radius. https://doi.org/10.1103/8mtr-tgh7
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