Status of Indirect Drive ICF Experiments on the National Ignition Facility

Technical Report · Mon Mar 21 00:00:00 EDT 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1248275· OSTI ID:1248275

Dewald, E. ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

In the quest to demonstrate Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) ignition of deuterium-tritium (DT) filled capsules and propagating thermonuclear burn with net energy gain (fusion energy/laser energy >1), recent experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) have shown progress towards increasing capsule hot spot temperature (Tion>5 keV) and fusion neutron yield (~10¹⁶), while achieving ~2x yield amplification by alpha particle deposition. At the same time a performance cliff was reached, resulting in lower fusion yields than expected as the implosion velocity was increased. Ongoing studies of the hohlraum and capsule physics are attempting to disseminate possible causes for this performance ceiling.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Contributing Organization: The ICF Program Collaboration
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-07NA27344
• OSTI ID: 1248275
• Report Number(s): LLNL-TR-686482; TRN: US1601263
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
FUSION YIELD
GAIN
US NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY
D-T OPERATION
NEUTRONS
TRITIUM
ALPHA PARTICLES
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
DEUTERIUM
INDIRECT DRIVE ICF
KEV RANGE
NET ENERGY
PERFORMANCE
HOT SPOTS
AUGMENTATION
DEPOSITION
THERMONUCLEAR IGNITION
IMPLOSIONS
VELOCITY
RESEARCH PROGRAMS