Developing the Physics Basis of Fast Ignition Experiments at Future Large Fusion-class lasers
The Fast Ignition (FI) concept for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) has the potential to provide a significant advance in the technical attractiveness of Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) reactors. FI differs from conventional 'central hot spot' (CHS) target ignition by using one driver (laser, heavy ion beam or Z-pinch) to create a dense fuel and a separate ultra-short, ultra-intense laser beam to ignite the dense core. FI targets can burn with {approx} 3X lower density fuel than CHS targets, resulting in (all other things being equal) lower required compression energy, relaxed drive symmetry, relaxed target smoothness tolerances, and, importantly, higher gain. The short, intense ignition pulse that drives this process interacts with extremely high energy density plasmas; the physics that controls this interaction is only now becoming accessible in the lab, and is still not well understood. The attraction of obtaining higher gains in smaller facilities has led to a worldwide explosion of effort in the studies of FI. In particular, two new US facilities to be completed in 2009/2010, OMEGA/OMEGA EP and NIF-ARC (as well as others overseas) will include FI investigations as part of their program. These new facilities will be able to approach FI conditions much more closely than heretofore using direct drive (dd) for OMEGA/OMEGA EP and indirect drive (id) for NIF-ARC. This LDRD has provided the physics basis for the development of the detailed design for integrated Fast ignition experiments on these facilities on the 2010/2011 timescale. A strategic initiative LDRD has now been formed to carry out integrated experiments using NIF ARC beams to heat a full scale FI assembled core by the end of 2010.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 925999
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-TR-401293; TRN: US0802517
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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