Tgermonuclear Ignition in Inertial Confinement Fusion and Comparison with Magnetic Confinement

Other · Fri Apr 23 04:00:00 EDT 2010

OSTI ID:977093

Betti, R ^[1]; Chang, P Y; Spears, B K; Anderson, K S; Edwards, J; Fatenejad, M; Lindl, J D; McCrory, R L; Nora, R; Shvarts, D

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1. Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY

The physics of thermonuclear ignition in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is presented in the familiar frame of a Lawson-type criterion. The product of the plasma pressure and confinement time Ptau for ICF is cast in terms of measurable parameters and its value is estimated for cryogenic implosions. An overall ignition parameter chi including pressure, confinement time, and temperature is derived to complement the product Ptau. A metric for performance assessment should include both chi and Ptau. The ignition parameter and the product Ptau are compared between inertial and magnetic-confinement fusion. It is found that cryogenic implosions on OMEGA [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] have achieved Ptau ~ 1.5 atm s comparable to large tokamaks such as the Joint European Torus [P. H. Rebut and B. E. Keen, Fusion Technol. 11, 13 (1987)] where Ptau ~ 1 atm s. Since OMEGA implosions are relatively cold (T ~ 2 keV), their overall ignition parameter chi ~ 0.02–0.03 is ~5X lower than in JET (chi ~ 0.13), where the average temperature is about 10 keV.

• Research Organization: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: FC52-08NA28302
• OSTI ID: 977093
• Report Number(s): DOE/NA/28302-945; 2009-120; 1926
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English