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Title: Experimental demonstration of fusion-relevant conditions in magnetized liner inertial fusion

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters

This Letter presents results from the first fully integrated experiments testing the magnetized liner inertial fusion concept [S.A. Slutz et al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 056303 (2010)], in which a cylinder of deuterium gas with a preimposed axial magnetic field of 10 T is heated by Z beamlet, a 2.5 kJ, 1 TW laser, and magnetically imploded by a 19 MA current with 100 ns rise time on the Z facility. Despite a predicted peak implosion velocity of only 70 km/s, the fuel reaches a stagnation temperature of approximately 3 keV, with Te ≈ Ti, and produces up to 2e12 thermonuclear DD neutrons. In this study, X-ray emission indicates a hot fuel region with full width at half maximum ranging from 60 to 120 μm over a 6 mm height and lasting approximately 2 ns. The number of secondary deuterium-tritium neutrons observed was greater than 1010, indicating significant fuel magnetization given that the estimated radial areal density of the plasma is only 2 mg/cm2.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1146936
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1181101
Report Number(s):
SAND-2014-4519J; PRLTAO; 520367
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 113, Issue 15; Related Information: Proposed for publication in Physical Review Letters.; ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 253 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Inertial-confinement fusion with lasers journal May 2016
Demonstration of thermonuclear conditions in magnetized liner inertial fusion experimentsa) journal May 2015
Neutron spectra from beam-target reactions in dense Z-pinches journal October 2015
Plasma expansion into a vacuum with an arbitrarily oriented external magnetic field journal January 2016
Discrete helical modes in imploding and exploding cylindrical, magnetized liners journal December 2016
Systematic search for spherical crystal X-ray microscopes matching 1–25 keV spectral line sources journal December 2016
Semi-analytic model of plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion journal March 2017
Simulation of the target creation through FRC merging for a magneto-inertial fusion concept journal April 2017
Direct measurement of the inertial confinement time in a magnetically driven implosion journal April 2017
The potential of imposed magnetic fields for enhancing ignition probability and fusion energy yield in indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion journal June 2017
Minimizing scatter-losses during pre-heat for magneto-inertial fusion targets journal February 2018
Theoretical foundations of quantum hydrodynamics for plasmas journal March 2018
Plasma and radiation detection via fiber interferometry journal January 2018
The electro-thermal stability of tantalum relative to aluminum and titanium in cylindrical liner ablation experiments at 550 kA journal March 2018
Evolution of sausage and helical modes in magnetized thin-foil cylindrical liners driven by a Z-pinch journal May 2018
Fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy for warm dense matter studies and ICF plasma diagnostics journal May 2018
Design and testing of a magnetically driven implosion peak current diagnostic journal April 2018
Magnetic pressure effects in a plasma-liner interface journal April 2018
Megagauss-level magnetic field production in cm-scale auto-magnetizing helical liners pulsed to 500 kA in 125 ns journal May 2018
Helical instability in MagLIF due to axial flux compression by low-density plasma journal June 2018
Laser entrance window transmission and reflection measurements for preheating in magnetized liner inertial fusion journal June 2018
One dimensional imager of neutrons on the Z machine journal October 2018
Average neutron time-of-flight instrument response function inferred from single D-T neutron events within a plastic scintillator journal October 2018
Modeling the one-dimensional imager of neutrons (ODIN) for neutron response functions at the Sandia Z facility journal October 2018
Scaling of magnetized inertial fusion with drive current rise-time journal August 2018
Scaling laws for dynamical plasma phenomena journal October 2018
Mass diffusion and liner material effect in a MagLIF fusion-like plasma journal August 2018
The staged z-pinch as a potential high gain fusion energy source: An independent review, a negative conclusion journal October 2018
Experimental investigation of the compression and heating of an MHD-driven jet impacting a target cloud journal November 2018
Diagnosing and mitigating laser preheat induced mix in MagLIF journal November 2018
Phase modulation failsafe system for multi-kJ lasers based on optical heterodyne detection journal October 2018
Enhancing performance of magnetized liner inertial fusion at the Z facility journal November 2018
Use of synchrotron-based radiography to diagnose pulsed power driven wire explosion experiments journal January 2019
Origins and effects of mix on magnetized liner inertial fusion target performance journal January 2019
Reduction of ablated surface expansion in pulsed-power-driven experiments using an aerosol dielectric coating journal July 2019
Significant change in threshold for plasma formation and evolution with small variation in copper alloys driven by a mega-ampere current pulse journal April 2019
Alpha heating enhancement in MagLIF targets: A simple analytic model journal January 2019
Inferring fuel areal density from secondary neutron yields in laser-driven magnetized liner inertial fusion journal February 2019
Magnetothermodynamics: An experimental study of the equations of state applicable to a magnetized plasma journal May 2019
Constraining preheat energy deposition in MagLIF experiments with multi-frame shadowgraphy journal March 2019
Implosion of auto-magnetizing helical liners on the Z facility journal May 2019
Study of laser produced plasma in a longitudinal magnetic field journal June 2019
Experimental investigation of Z-pinch radiation source for indirect drive inertial confinement fusion journal July 2019
Calculation of plasma dynamic parameters of the magneto-inertial fusion target with combined exposure journal September 2019
Optimization of switch diagnostics on the MAIZE linear transformer driver journal December 2019
Exploring the crossover between high-energy-density plasma and ultracold neutral plasma physics journal October 2019
Design of dynamic screw pinch experiments for magnetized liner inertial fusion journal October 2019
Characterization of an imploding cylindrical plasma for electron transport studies using x-ray emission spectroscopy journal February 2020
GaAs x-ray detectors with sub-nanosecond temporal response journal November 2019
Ultrafast dynamics of strongly correlated fermions—nonequilibrium Green functions and selfenergy approximations journal December 2019
Measuring implosion velocities in experiments and simulations of laser-driven cylindrical implosions on the OMEGA laser journal April 2018
Incorporating kinetic effects on Nernst advection in inertial fusion simulations journal June 2018
Acceleration of protons and deuterons up to 35 MeV and generation of 10 13 neutrons in a megaampere deuterium gas-puff z-pinch journal November 2018
A pulsed high-current plasma beam under external and self-induced magnetic confinement in a linear device journal August 2019
Laser-driven platform for generation and characterization of strong quasi-static magnetic fields journal August 2015
Study of a dense hot plasma’s burning in Z -pinch devices with inertial-magnetic confinement journal July 2018
Magneto-Rayleigh–Taylor instability in compressible Z-pinch liner plasmas journal June 2017
Fusion-neutron measurements for magnetized liner inertial fusion experiments on the Z accelerator journal May 2016
Suite for Smooth Particle Hydrodynamic Code Relevant to Spherical Plasma Liner Formation and Implosion journal July 2019
Performance of bent-crystal x-ray microscopes for high energy density physics research journal January 2015
Evolution of helical perturbations in a thin-shell model of an imploding liner journal November 2014
Coupling of sausage, kink, and magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities in a cylindrical liner journal March 2015
The ignition design space of magnetized target fusion journal December 2015
Emission of fast ions from conical wire array Z-pinches studied at different background pressures journal October 2018
Pulsed magnetic field device for laser plasma experiments at Shenguang-II laser facility journal January 2020
Semi-analytic model of plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion text January 2016
Retrospective of the ARPA-E ALPHA fusion program text January 2019

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