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Title: Inertially confined fusion plasmas dominated by alpha-particle self-heating [Alpha-particle self-heating dominated inertially confined fusion plasmas]

Journal Article · · Nature Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/NPHYS3720· OSTI ID:1524708
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  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States). Lab. for Laser Energetics
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  4. General Atomics, La Jolla, CA (United States)
  5. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Alpha-particle self-heating, the process of deuterium–tritium fusion reaction products depositing their kinetic energy locally within a fusion reaction region and thus increasing the temperature in the reacting region, is essential for achieving ignition in a fusion system. Here, we report new inertial confinement fusion experiments where the alpha-particle heating of the plasma is dominant with the fusion yield produced exceeding the fusion yield from the work done on the fuel (pressure times volume change) by a factor of two or more. These experiments have achieved the highest yield (26 ± 0.5 kJ) and stagnation pressures ( ≍ 220 ± 40 Gbar) of any facility-based inertial confinement fusion experiments, although they are still short of the pressures required for ignition on the National Ignition Facility (~300–400 Gbar). Finally, these experiments put us in a new part of parameter space that has not been extensively studied so far because it lies between the no-alpha-particle-deposition regime and ignition.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344
OSTI ID:
1524708
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-668412; 790148
Journal Information:
Nature Physics, Vol. 12, Issue 8; ISSN 1745-2473
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group (NPG)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 119 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (47)

Theoretical and simulation research of hydrodynamic instabilities in inertial-confinement fusion implosions journal March 2017
P2 asymmetry of Au's M-band flux and its smoothing effect due to high-Z ablator dopants journal March 2017
Experimental discrimination of ion stopping models near the Bragg peak in highly ionized matter journal June 2017
Inertial-confinement fusion with lasers journal May 2016
Enhanced energy coupling for indirectly driven inertial confinement fusion journal October 2018
Tripled yield in direct-drive laser fusion through statistical modelling journal January 2019
Integrated modeling of cryogenic layered highfoot experiments at the NIF journal May 2016
Fluence-compensated down-scattered neutron imaging using the neutron imaging system at the National Ignition Facility journal August 2016
The role of hot spot mix in the low-foot and high-foot implosions on the NIF journal May 2017
A comprehensive alpha-heating model for inertial confinement fusion journal January 2018
On the importance of minimizing “coast-time” in x-ray driven inertially confined fusion implosions journal September 2017
The I-Raum: A new shaped hohlraum for improved inner beam propagation in indirectly-driven ICF implosions on the National Ignition Facility journal January 2018
A plasma amplifier to combine multiple beams at NIF journal May 2018
A near one-dimensional indirectly driven implosion at convergence ratio 30 journal May 2018
Comparison of plastic, high density carbon, and beryllium as indirect drive NIF ablators journal May 2018
The high velocity, high adiabat, “Bigfoot” campaign and tests of indirect-drive implosion scaling journal May 2018
Exploring the limits of case-to-capsule ratio, pulse length, and picket energy for symmetric hohlraum drive on the National Ignition Facility Laser journal May 2018
Particle-in-cell studies of fast-ion slowing-down rates in cool tenuous magnetized plasma journal April 2018
Synthetic nuclear diagnostics for inferring plasma properties of inertial confinement fusion implosions journal December 2018
Theory of alpha heating in inertial fusion: Alpha-heating metrics and the onset of the burning-plasma regime journal July 2018
Using multiple x-ray emission images of inertially confined implosions to identify spatial variations and estimate confinement volumes (invited) journal October 2018
Impact of imposed mode 2 laser drive asymmetry on inertial confinement fusion implosions journal January 2019
Robustness to hydrodynamic instabilities in indirectly driven layered capsule implosions journal January 2019
A theoretical model for low-mode asymmetries in ICF implosions journal February 2019
Approaching a burning plasma on the NIF journal May 2019
Laboratory measurements of geometrical effects in the x-ray emission of optically thick lines for ICF diagnostics journal June 2019
Quantum hydrodynamics for plasmas— Quo vadis ? journal September 2019
Implosion performance of subscale beryllium capsules on the NIF journal May 2019
On alpha-particle transport in inertial fusion journal June 2019
Interpreting the electron temperature inferred from x-ray continuum emission for direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions on OMEGA journal August 2019
Effects of thermal conductivity of liquid layer in NIF wetted foam experiments journal September 2019
Three-dimensional simulations of turbulent mixing in spherical implosions journal November 2019
Maintaining low-mode symmetry control with extended pulse shapes for lower-adiabat Bigfoot implosions on the National Ignition Facility journal November 2019
Indirect drive ignition at the National Ignition Facility journal October 2016
Ultrafast dynamics of strongly correlated fermions—nonequilibrium Green functions and selfenergy approximations journal December 2019
Beyond alpha-heating: driving inertially confined fusion implosions toward a burning-plasma state on the National Ignition Facility journal November 2018
Preliminary experiments on hohlraum-driven double-shell implosion at the ShenGuang-III laser facility journal June 2018
A 3D dynamic model to assess the impacts of low-mode asymmetry, aneurysms and mix-induced radiative loss on capsule performance across inertial confinement fusion platforms journal December 2018
Burn regimes in the hydrodynamic scaling of perturbed inertial confinement fusion hotspots journal June 2019
Dynamics of supernova bounce in laboratory journal March 2019
Ab initio Exchange-Correlation Free Energy of the Uniform Electron Gas at Warm Dense Matter Conditions journal September 2017
Ab initio Path Integral Monte Carlo Results for the Dynamic Structure Factor of Correlated Electrons: From the Electron Liquid to Warm Dense Matter journal December 2018
Development of the real-time neutron activation diagnostic system for NIF conference September 2017
Laboratory measurements of geometrical effects in the X-ray emission of optically thick lines for ICF diagnostics text January 2019
Ab initio Exchange-Correlation Free Energy of the Uniform Electron Gas at Warm Dense Matter Conditions text January 2017
Dynamics of supernova bounce in laboratory text January 2018
Burn regimes in the hydrodynamic scaling of perturbed inertial confinement fusion hotspots text January 2019

Figures / Tables (1)


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