Increasing stagnation pressure and thermonuclear performance of inertial confinement fusion capsules by the introduction of a high-Z dopant
Abstract
Inertial confinement fusion requires the inertia of the imploding mass to provide the necessary confinement such that the core reaches adequate high density, temperature, and pressure. Studies utilize low-Z capsules filled with hydrogenic fuel, which are subject to multiple instabilities at the interfaces during the implosion. To improve the stability of the fuel:capsule interface and narrow the imploding shell profile, capsules are doped with a small atomic percentage of a high-Z material. A series of recent indirect-drive experiments executed at the National Ignition Facility with tungsten-doped high density carbon capsules has demonstrated that the presence of this dopant serves to increase the in-flight aspect ratio of the shell and increase the compression and neutron yield performance of both gas-filled and deuterium-tritium cryogenically layered targets. These experiments definitively show that benefits accrued by the introduction of a high-Z dopant into the capsule can outweigh the detrimentally reduced stability of the ablation front, avoiding shell breakup or significant radiative cooling of the hot spot. Future experiments will utilize these types of capsules to additionally increase nuclear performance.
- Authors:
-
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- General Atomics, San Diego, CA (United States)
- Diamond Materials GmbH, Freiburg (Germany)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1557044
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1466869
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-JRNL-740802
Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X; 894254
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-07NA27344; NA0001808
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physics of Plasmas
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 25; Journal Issue: 8; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
Citation Formats
Berzak Hopkins, L., Divol, L., Weber, C., Le Pape, S., Meezan, N. B., Ross, J. S., Tommasini, R., Khan, S., Ho, D. D., Biener, J., Dewald, E., Goyon, C., Kong, C., Nikroo, A., Pak, A., Rice, N., Stadermann, M., Wild, C., Callahan, D., and Hurricane, O.. Increasing stagnation pressure and thermonuclear performance of inertial confinement fusion capsules by the introduction of a high-Z dopant. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.5033459.
Berzak Hopkins, L., Divol, L., Weber, C., Le Pape, S., Meezan, N. B., Ross, J. S., Tommasini, R., Khan, S., Ho, D. D., Biener, J., Dewald, E., Goyon, C., Kong, C., Nikroo, A., Pak, A., Rice, N., Stadermann, M., Wild, C., Callahan, D., & Hurricane, O.. Increasing stagnation pressure and thermonuclear performance of inertial confinement fusion capsules by the introduction of a high-Z dopant. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5033459
Berzak Hopkins, L., Divol, L., Weber, C., Le Pape, S., Meezan, N. B., Ross, J. S., Tommasini, R., Khan, S., Ho, D. D., Biener, J., Dewald, E., Goyon, C., Kong, C., Nikroo, A., Pak, A., Rice, N., Stadermann, M., Wild, C., Callahan, D., and Hurricane, O.. Mon .
"Increasing stagnation pressure and thermonuclear performance of inertial confinement fusion capsules by the introduction of a high-Z dopant". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5033459. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1557044.
@article{osti_1557044,
title = {Increasing stagnation pressure and thermonuclear performance of inertial confinement fusion capsules by the introduction of a high-Z dopant},
author = {Berzak Hopkins, L. and Divol, L. and Weber, C. and Le Pape, S. and Meezan, N. B. and Ross, J. S. and Tommasini, R. and Khan, S. and Ho, D. D. and Biener, J. and Dewald, E. and Goyon, C. and Kong, C. and Nikroo, A. and Pak, A. and Rice, N. and Stadermann, M. and Wild, C. and Callahan, D. and Hurricane, O.},
abstractNote = {Inertial confinement fusion requires the inertia of the imploding mass to provide the necessary confinement such that the core reaches adequate high density, temperature, and pressure. Studies utilize low-Z capsules filled with hydrogenic fuel, which are subject to multiple instabilities at the interfaces during the implosion. To improve the stability of the fuel:capsule interface and narrow the imploding shell profile, capsules are doped with a small atomic percentage of a high-Z material. A series of recent indirect-drive experiments executed at the National Ignition Facility with tungsten-doped high density carbon capsules has demonstrated that the presence of this dopant serves to increase the in-flight aspect ratio of the shell and increase the compression and neutron yield performance of both gas-filled and deuterium-tritium cryogenically layered targets. These experiments definitively show that benefits accrued by the introduction of a high-Z dopant into the capsule can outweigh the detrimentally reduced stability of the ablation front, avoiding shell breakup or significant radiative cooling of the hot spot. Future experiments will utilize these types of capsules to additionally increase nuclear performance.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5033459},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
number = 8,
volume = 25,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {8}
}
Web of Science
Figures / Tables:

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