Experimental and Computational Progress on Liner Implosions for Compression of FRCs

Degnan, J.H.; Amdahl, D.J.; Brown, A.; Cavazos, T.; Coffey, S.K.; Domonkos, Matthew T.; Frese, S.D.; Gale, D.; Grabowski, Theodore; Intrator, T.; Kirkpatrick, Ronald C.; Kiuttu, G.F.; Lehr, F.M.; Letterio, J.D.; Parker, J.V.; Peterkin, R.E.; Roderick, N. F.; Ruden, E.L.; Siemon, R. E.; Sommars, W.; Tucker, W.; Turchi, P. J.; Wurden, G. A.

doi:10.1109/tps.2007.913814

Cited by 33 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In the last 10 years, there have been substantial advances and growing interest in MIF research and concepts. A team led by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has been investigating solid liner compression of magnetically confined field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasmas to achieve kilovolt temperatures [5][6][7]. The University of Rochester has introduced seed magnetic fields into the center of targets at the OMEGA laser facility, and compressed those fields by imploding a liner with the OMEGA laser.…”

Section: Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magneto-Inertial Fusion

et al. 2015

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In this community white paper, we describe an approach to achieving fusion which employs a hybrid of elements from the traditional magnetic and inertial fusion concepts, called magneto-inertial fusion (MIF). The status of MIF research in North America at multiple institutions is summarized including recent progress, research opportunities, and future plans.Keywords Magneto-inertial fusion Á Magnetized target fusion Á Liner Á Plasma jets Á Fusion energy Á MagLIF DescriptionMagneto-inertial fusion (MIF) (aka magnetized target fusion) [1][2][3] is an approach to fusion that combines the compressional heating of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) with the magnetically reduced thermal transport and magnetically enhanced alpha heating of magnetic confinement fusion (MCF). From an MCF perspective, the higher density, shorter confinement times, and compressional heating as the dominant heating mechanism reduce the impact of instabilities. From an ICF perspective, the primary benefits are potentially orders of magnitude reduction in the difficult to achieve qr parameter (areal density), and potentially significant reduction in velocity requirements and hydrodynamic instabilities for compression drivers. In fact, ignition becomes theoretically possible from qr B 0.01 g/cm 2 up to conventional ICF values of qr * 1.0 g/cm 2 , and as in MCF, Br rather than qr becomes the key figure-of-merit for ignition because of the enhanced alpha deposition [4]. Within the lower-qr parameter space, MIF exploits lower required implosion velocities (2-100 km/s, compared to the ICF minimum of 350-400 km/s) allowing the use of much more efficient (g C 0.3) pulsed power drivers, while at the highest (i.e., ICF) end of the qr range, both higher gain G at a given implosion velocity as well as lower implosion velocity and reduced hydrodynamic instabilities are theoretically possible. To avoid confusion, it must be emphasized that the wellknown conventional ICF burn fraction formula does not apply for the lower-qr ''liner-driven'' MIF schemes, since it is the much larger mass and qr of the liner (and not that of the burning fuel) that determines the ''dwell time'' and fuel burnup fraction. In all cases, MIF approaches seek to satisfy/ exceed the inertial fusion energy (IFE) figure-of-merit gG * 7-10 required in an economical plant with reasonable recirculating power fraction. A great advantage of MIF is indeed its extremely wide parameter space which allows it greater versatility in overcoming difficulties in implementation or technology, as evidenced by the four diverse approaches and associated implosion velocities shown in Fig. 1.MIF approaches occupy an attractive region in thermonuclear q-T parameter space, as shown in a paper by

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Section: Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magneto-Inertial Fusion

et al. 2015

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“…Here a conventional Aluminum shell liner of roughly 300 g mass was imploded using the 4.5 MJ Shiva Star capacitor bank. The 5 cm radius liner was compressed with an axial current of 12 MA at 84 kV and produced a final liner kinetic energy of ~ 1 MJ in 22 sec [6]. Employing the macron launcher it should be possible to exceed this liner energy by a factor of three for a similar stored energy.…”

Section: A Macroparticle (Macron) Formed Liner Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There can thus be a very wide range of liner masses and materials that could be employed to achieve fusion gain. Equation (6) can be restated in terms of liner kinetic energy per unit length:…”

Section: Magneto-inertial Fusion Scalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the highest densities the Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) experiments at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) [16] and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) [6] represent an attempt to compress plasmas to fusion conditions using a conducting metal liner. The experiment to be performed is a very ambitious one that would amount to a major advance if successful.…”

Section: Anticipated Public Benefitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of course there is no motion of these coils in the calculation. Considerable work has been done with a similar code, MACH2 (Multi-block Arbitrary Coordinate Hydromagnetic 2D) to incorporate the solid liner behavior for the MTF experiment [21]. This code is now being modified at the UW to include a theta pinch driver to study the effect of its motion on compressing the FRC as part of the Foil Liner Compression study at MSNW.…”

Section: Frc Compression With Four Macron Ring Linersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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