The heating of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) target by fast electrons, which are generated as a result of laser interaction with expanding plasma (corona) of a target, is investigated theoretically. It is shown that due to remoteness of the peripheral region, where electrons are accelerated, a significant portion of these particles, moving in corona and repeatedly crossing it due to reflection in a self-consistent electric field, will not hit into the compressed part of target. Using the modern models of fast electron generation, it is shown that in a typical target designed for spark ignition, the fraction of fast electrons that can pass their energy to compressed part of target is enough small. Only 12% of the total number of fast electrons can do it. Such an effect of "wandering" of fast electrons in corona leads to a significant decrease in a negative effect of fast electrons on target compression. Taking into account the wandering effect, the distribution of energy transmitted by fast electrons to different parts of target and the resulting reduction of deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel compression are established.
The results of numerical and theoretical studies of the gain of a direct-drive inertial confinement fusion target, which includes a kinetic description of energy transfer by laser-accelerated fast electrons, are presented. The range of the initial temperature of the fast electrons and the fraction of laser energy contained in these particles were chosen based on the results of recent experiments at the National Ignition Facility. The effect of 'wandering' of fast electrons is taken into account which is due to the remoteness of the region of fast electron generation from the ablation surface of the imploded target. As a result a significant fraction of particles do not fall into the compressed part of target. The 'wandering' effect leads to a decrease in the negative effect of fast electron generation on the gain of the target.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.