Introduction to the physics of ICF capsules
Abstract
Inertial Confinement Fusion is an approach to fusion which relies on the inertia of the fuel mass to provide confinement. To achieve conditions under which this confinement is sufficient for efficient thermonuclear burn, high gain ICF targets designed to be imploded directly by laser light. These capsules are generally a spherical shell which is filled with low density DT gas. The shell is composed of an outer region which forms the ablator and an inner region of frozen or liquid DT which forms the main fuel. Energy from the driver is delivered to the ablator which heats up and expands. As the ablator expands and blows outward, the rest of the shell is forced inward to conserve momentum. In this implosion process, several features are important. We define the in-flight-aspect-ratio (IFAR) as the ratio of the shell radius R as it implodes to its thickness {Delta}R. Hydrodynamic instabilities during the implosion impose limits on this ratio which results in a minimum pressure requirement of about 100 Mbar. The convergence ratio is defined as the ratio of the initial outer radius of the ablator to the final compressed radius of the hot spot. This hot spot is the central region ofmore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 6038759
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-106493; CONF-880928-6
ON: DE91011207
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Course and workshop on inertial confinement fusion, Varenna (Italy), 6-16 Sep 1988
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; LASER TARGETS; THERMONUCLEAR IGNITION; ABLATION; CONVERGENCE; ENERGY LOSSES; INERTIAL CONFINEMENT; LASER FUSION REACTORS; LASER IMPLOSIONS; PLASMA INSTABILITY; X RADIATION; CONFINEMENT; ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION; IMPLOSIONS; INSTABILITY; IONIZING RADIATIONS; LOSSES; PLASMA CONFINEMENT; RADIATIONS; TARGETS; THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS; 700208* - Fusion Power Plant Technology- Inertial Confinement Technology
Citation Formats
Lindl, J D. Introduction to the physics of ICF capsules. United States: N. p., 1989.
Web.
Lindl, J D. Introduction to the physics of ICF capsules. United States.
Lindl, J D. Mon .
"Introduction to the physics of ICF capsules". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6038759.
@article{osti_6038759,
title = {Introduction to the physics of ICF capsules},
author = {Lindl, J D},
abstractNote = {Inertial Confinement Fusion is an approach to fusion which relies on the inertia of the fuel mass to provide confinement. To achieve conditions under which this confinement is sufficient for efficient thermonuclear burn, high gain ICF targets designed to be imploded directly by laser light. These capsules are generally a spherical shell which is filled with low density DT gas. The shell is composed of an outer region which forms the ablator and an inner region of frozen or liquid DT which forms the main fuel. Energy from the driver is delivered to the ablator which heats up and expands. As the ablator expands and blows outward, the rest of the shell is forced inward to conserve momentum. In this implosion process, several features are important. We define the in-flight-aspect-ratio (IFAR) as the ratio of the shell radius R as it implodes to its thickness {Delta}R. Hydrodynamic instabilities during the implosion impose limits on this ratio which results in a minimum pressure requirement of about 100 Mbar. The convergence ratio is defined as the ratio of the initial outer radius of the ablator to the final compressed radius of the hot spot. This hot spot is the central region of the compressed fuel which is required to ignite the main fuel in high gain designs. Typical convergence ratios are 30--40. To maintain a nearly spherical shape during the implosion, when convergence ratios are this large, the flux delivered to the capsule must be uniform to a few percent. The remainder of this paper discusses the conditions necessary to achieve thermonuclear ignition in these ICF capsules.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6038759},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {1989},
month = {3}
}