Investigation of Fuel Energy Gain for Tritium-Poor Fuels in Fast Ignition Fusion Approach

Abstract

One of the most fascinating ignition schemes for the inertial fusion energy that might be feasible is fast ignition. Its targets are ignited on the outside surface so there is no need to low density and high temperature center is required by central hot spot ignition. Fast ignition concept is noteworthy for a simple but fundamental reason: In principle it requires less total energy input to achieve ignition. In this paper, fuel energy and fuel energy gain of nearly pure deuterium capsule are calculated. This capsule is ignited by a deuterium-tritium seed, which would reduce the tritium inventory to a few percentages. The variations of fuel energy gain versus fuel density have been studied and submitted. On the basis of different physical parameters the following results of the investigation are presented and discussed. The energy gain curves for different tritium concentrations are found and limiting gain curves are derived. Finally, tritium-poor fast ignitor is compared to equimolar deuterium-tritium fast ignitor.