skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Demonstration of thermonuclear conditions in magnetized liner inertial fusion experiments

Journal Article · · Physics of Plasmas
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4919394· OSTI ID:22410402

The magnetized liner inertial fusion concept [S. A. Slutz et al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 056303 (2010)] utilizes a magnetic field and laser heating to relax the pressure requirements of inertial confinement fusion. The first experiments to test the concept [M. R. Gomez et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 155003 (2014)] were conducted utilizing the 19 MA, 100 ns Z machine, the 2.5 kJ, 1 TW Z Beamlet laser, and the 10 T Applied B-field on Z system. Despite an estimated implosion velocity of only 70 km/s in these experiments, electron and ion temperatures at stagnation were as high as 3 keV, and thermonuclear deuterium-deuterium neutron yields up to 2 × 10{sup 12} have been produced. X-ray emission from the fuel at stagnation had widths ranging from 50 to 110 μm over a roughly 80% of the axial extent of the target (6–8 mm) and lasted approximately 2 ns. X-ray yields from these experiments are consistent with a stagnation density of the hot fuel equal to 0.2–0.4 g/cm{sup 3}. In these experiments, up to 5 × 10{sup 10} secondary deuterium-tritium neutrons were produced. Given that the areal density of the plasma was approximately 1–2 mg/cm{sup 2}, this indicates the stagnation plasma was significantly magnetized, which is consistent with the anisotropy observed in the deuterium-tritium neutron spectra. Control experiments where the laser and/or magnetic field were not utilized failed to produce stagnation temperatures greater than 1 keV and primary deuterium-deuterium yields greater than 10{sup 10}. An additional control experiment where the fuel contained a sufficient dopant fraction to substantially increase radiative losses also failed to produce a relevant stagnation temperature. The results of these experiments are consistent with a thermonuclear neutron source.

OSTI ID:
22410402
Journal Information:
Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (44)

Technical Summary of the First U.S. Plasma Jet Workshop journal August 2008
Laser Compression of Matter to Super-High Densities: Thermonuclear (CTR) Applications journal September 1972
Fuel gain exceeding unity in an inertially confined fusion implosion journal February 2014
Development and characterization of a Z-pinch-driven hohlraum high-yield inertial confinement fusion target concept journal May 2001
Analysis of a direct-drive ignition capsule designed for the National Ignition Facility journal May 2001
Monochromatic x-ray imaging experiments on the Sandia National Laboratories Z facility (invited) journal October 2004
Multilayer mirror monochromatic self-emission x-ray imaging on the Z accelerator journal October 2006
Z-pinch plasma neutron sources journal February 2007
Target design for high fusion yield with the double Z-pinch-driven hohlraum journal May 2007
Deuterium gas-puff Z-pinch implosions on the Z accelerator journal May 2007
Scaling of (MHD) instabilities in imploding plasma liners journal March 1980
Pulsed-power-driven cylindrical liner implosions of laser preheated fuel magnetized with an axial field journal May 2010
National Ignition Campaign Hohlraum energetics journal May 2010
Neutron spectra from inertial confinement fusion targets for measurement of fuel areal density and charged particle stopping powers journal September 1987
Measurements of magneto-Rayleigh–Taylor instability growth during the implosion of initially solid metal liners journal May 2011
Compact, rugged in-chamber transmission spectrometers (7–28 keV) for the Sandia Z facility journal June 2011
Beryllium liner implosion experiments on the Z accelerator in preparation for magnetized liner inertial fusion journal May 2013
Fusion-neutron-yield, activation measurements at the Z accelerator: Design, analysis, and sensitivity journal April 2014
Modified helix-like instability structure on imploding z-pinch liners that are pre-imposed with a uniform axial magnetic field journal May 2014
Design of magnetized liner inertial fusion experiments using the Z facility journal July 2014
X-ray power and yield measurements at the refurbished Z machine journal August 2014
Pulsed-coil magnet systems for applying uniform 10–30 T fields to centimeter-scale targets on Sandia's Z facility journal December 2014
Magnetohydrodynamic behavior of thermonuclear fuel in a preconditioned electron beam imploded target journal January 1981
Development of the indirect‐drive approach to inertial confinement fusion and the target physics basis for ignition and gain journal November 1995
High yield inertial confinement fusion target design for a z -pinch-driven hohlraum journal May 1999
Parameter space for magnetized fuel targets in inertial confinement fusion journal March 1983
Ignition conditions for magnetized target fusion in cylindrical geometry journal January 2000
Recent magneto-inertial fusion experiments on the field reversed configuration heating experiment journal August 2013
Shock Ignition: A New Approach to High Gain Inertial Confinement Fusion on the National Ignition Facility journal July 2009
Measurements of Magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor Instability Growth during the Implosion of Initially Solid Al Tubes Driven by the 20-MA, 100-ns Z Facility journal October 2010
Penetrating Radiography of Imploding and Stagnating Beryllium Liners on the Z Accelerator journal September 2012
Onset of Hydrodynamic Mix in High-Velocity, Highly Compressed Inertial Confinement Fusion Implosions journal August 2013
Observations of Modified Three-Dimensional Instability Structure for Imploding z -Pinch Liners that are Premagnetized with an Axial Field journal December 2013
Experimental Demonstration of Fusion-Relevant Conditions in Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion journal October 2014
Understanding Fuel Magnetization and Mix Using Secondary Nuclear Reactions in Magneto-Inertial Fusion journal October 2014
Magnetically insulated inertial fusion: A new approach to controlled thermonuclear fusion journal January 1986
Compression of Plasma to Megabar Range using Imploding Liner journal March 1999
Production of Thermonuclear Neutrons from Deuterium-Filled Capsule Implosions Driven by Z -Pinch Dynamic Hohlraums journal June 2004
Quenching of the Nonlocal Electron Heat Transport by Large External Magnetic Fields in a Laser-Produced Plasma Measured with Imaging Thomson Scattering journal March 2007
Three-dimensional electromagnetic model of the pulsed-power Z -pinch accelerator journal January 2010
Status of the Z pulsed power driver conference June 2011
Neutron Energy Distribution Function Reconstructed From Time-of-Flight Signals in Deuterium Gas-Puff $Z$-Pinch journal March 2009
Magnetically Driven Implosions for Inertial Confinement Fusion at Sandia National Laboratories journal December 2012
Z-Beamlet: a multikilojoule, terawatt-class laser system journal January 2005

Cited By (18)

High energy density physics with intense ion beams journal January 2016
Neutron temporal diagnostic for high-yield deuterium–tritium cryogenic implosions on OMEGA journal May 2016
Effect of the axial magnetic field on a metallic gas-puff pinch implosion journal June 2016
Seeded and unseeded helical modes in magnetized, non-imploding cylindrical liner-plasmas journal October 2016
Discrete helical modes in imploding and exploding cylindrical, magnetized liners journal December 2016
Systematic search for spherical crystal X-ray microscopes matching 1–25 keV spectral line sources journal December 2016
Evolution of sausage and helical modes in magnetized thin-foil cylindrical liners driven by a Z-pinch journal May 2018
Average neutron time-of-flight instrument response function inferred from single D-T neutron events within a plastic scintillator journal October 2018
Modeling the one-dimensional imager of neutrons (ODIN) for neutron response functions at the Sandia Z facility journal October 2018
Scaling of magnetized inertial fusion with drive current rise-time journal August 2018
Diagnosing and mitigating laser preheat induced mix in MagLIF journal November 2018
Enhancing performance of magnetized liner inertial fusion at the Z facility journal November 2018
Significant change in threshold for plasma formation and evolution with small variation in copper alloys driven by a mega-ampere current pulse journal April 2019
Constraining preheat energy deposition in MagLIF experiments with multi-frame shadowgraphy journal March 2019
Nuclear diagnostics for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) plasmas journal January 2020
Current transport and loss mechanisms in the Z accelerator journal December 2019
Experimental observation of the stratified electrothermal instability on aluminum with thickness greater than a skin depth journal May 2018
Effect of Electron Capture on Spectral Line Broadening in Hot Dense Plasmas journal February 2020