Demonstration of a hydrodynamically equivalent burning plasma in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion

Gopalaswamy, V.; Williams, C. A.; Betti, R.; Patel, D.; Knauer, J. P.; Lees, A.; Cao, D.; Campbell, E. M.; Farmakis, P.; Ejaz, R.; Anderson, K. S.; Epstein, R.; Carroll-Nellenbeck, J.; Igumenshchev, I. V.; Marozas, J. A.; Radha, P. B.; Solodov, A. A.; Thomas, C. A.; Woo, K. M.; Collins, T. J. B.; Hu, S. X.; Scullin, W.; Turnbull, D.; Goncharov, V. N.; Churnetski, K.; Forrest, C. J.; Glebov, V. Yu.; Heuer, P. V.; McClow, H.; Shah, R. C.; Stoeckl, C.; Theobald, W.; Edgell, D. H.; Ivancic, S.; Rosenberg, M. J.; Regan, S. P.; Bredesen, D.; Fella, C.; Koch, M.; Janezic, R. T.; Bonino, M. J.; Harding, D. R.; Bauer, K. A.; Sampat, S.; Waxer, L. J.; Labuzeta, M.; Morse, S. F. B.; Gatu-Johnson, M.; Petrasso, R. D.; Frenje, J. A.; Murray, J.; Serrato, B.; Guzman, D.; Shuldberg, C.; Farrell, M.; Deeney, C.

doi:10.1038/s41567-023-02361-4

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…The increased laser absorption and temperature of coronal plasma are both helpful to reduce CBET loss rate, as scaled experiments [19] verified. Besides, the threshold of two plasma decay (TPD) instability η TPD is given by [45] I 14 L µm n /230T keV e , with I 14 in units of 10 14 W cm −2 .…”

Section: The Effect Of CL Dopant On the Laser Absorptionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…This demonstrated that the use of nuclear reactions on dopants as diagnostics is quite feasible [18]. Scaled laser-direct-drive (LDD) experiments of NIF were conducted on OMEGA in February 2024, using the target with CH polymer outer ablator doped with Si [19]. It is found that Si not only reduces the intensity of the pump rays, but also increases the temperature of the coronal plasma, both of which are helpful to reduce the cross beam energy transfer (CBET) loss rate and increase the laser absorption [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of high-Z dopant on the ablation of carbon–hydrogen polymer target

Xiong,

Yang,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

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High-Z dopants such as chlorine, bromine and silicon in carbon-hydrogen polymer (CH) targets play a crucial role during the ablation of inertial confinement fusion (ICF). These dopants can serve as diagnostic tools in experiments and mitigate hot electron preheating, but they also influence the laser ablation. In this paper, the process of high-power laser ablating doped CH targets has been studied through radiation hydrodynamic simulations. Our findings reveal that the laser absorption rate in the doped targets increase as a result of the increasing electron-ion collision frequency. This leads to the increase of the electron, ion and radiation temperatures. Furthermore, high-Z dopants contribute to a decrease in the ablation pressure, which tends to a constant. Moreover, the saturation phenomenon of the mass ablation rate has been found. For the targets with low doping ratios (e.g. 6.25\%-12.5\%), the mass ablation rate increases until reaching the saturation at a doping ratio of 18.75\%, after which it decreases. This indicates that an appropriate doping ratio can increase the laser absorption and ablation. The results are helpful to comprehensively understand the effects of high-Z dopant on all stages of ICF.

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Section: The Effect Of CL Dopant On the Laser Absorptionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of high-Z dopant on the ablation of carbon–hydrogen polymer target

Xiong,

Yang,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…With their 30 kJ OMEGA laser, they cannot produce an ignited plasma large enough to confine the alphas, so they cannot produce an alpha burn wave. However, they can produce what they call hydrodynamically equivalent results [97]. This means that their imploded plasma is just like what would be produced by a much larger laser (but without considering alpha heating) except for the differences in sizes of the two plasmas.…”

Section: Laser Fusion Coloring Outside the Linesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Direct drive gives the option of getting all the laser light on the target. If deep ultraviolet ultimately works as well as X-rays in imploding the target, as Refs [97] [98] imply, the gain only must be increased by about a factor of 3 or 4 from what NIF has already achieved. This then would allow for fusion breeding.…”

Section: Fusion Breeding Coloring Far Outside the Linesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fusion: It&#8217;s Time to Color outside the Lines

Manheimer

2024

OJAppS

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There has been some good news, and some bad news in the controlled fusion community recently. The good news is that the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has recently produced a burning plasma. It succeeded on several of its shots where ~1.5 -2 megajoules from its laser (National Ignition Facility, or NIF) has generated ~1.3 -3 megajoules of fusion products. The highest ratio of fusion energy to laser energy it achieved, defined as its Q, was 1.5 at the time of this writing. While LLNL is sponsored by nuclear stockpile stewardship, this author sees a likely path from their result to fusion for energy for the world, a path using a very different laser and a very different target configuration. The bad news is that the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor (ITER) has continued to stumble on more and more delays and cost overruns, as its capital cost has mushroomed from ~$5 billion to ~ $25 B. This paper argues that the American fusion effort, for energy for the civilian economy, should switch its emphasis not only from magnetic fusion to inertial fusion but should also take much more seriously fusion breeding. Over the next few decades, the world might well be setting up more and more thermal nuclear reactors, and these might need fuel which only fusion breeders can supply. In other words, fusion should begin to color outside the lines.

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Demonstration of hot-spot fuel gain exceeding unity in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions

Williams,

Betti,

Gopalaswamy

et al. 2024

Nat. Phys.

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Demonstration of a hydrodynamically equivalent burning plasma in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion

Cited by 9 publications

References 59 publications

The effect of high-Z dopant on the ablation of carbon–hydrogen polymer target

The effect of high-Z dopant on the ablation of carbon–hydrogen polymer target

Fusion: It&#8217;s Time to Color outside the Lines

Demonstration of hot-spot fuel gain exceeding unity in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions

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Demonstration of a hydrodynamically equivalent burning plasma in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion

Cited by 9 publications

References 59 publications

The effect of high-Z dopant on the ablation of carbon–hydrogen polymer target

The effect of high-Z dopant on the ablation of carbon–hydrogen polymer target

Fusion: It&amp;#8217;s Time to Color outside the Lines

Demonstration of hot-spot fuel gain exceeding unity in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions

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Product

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Fusion: It’s Time to Color outside the Lines