Shock ignition: a new approach to high gain inertial confinement fusion on the national ignition facility.
Shock ignition, an alternative concept for igniting thermonuclear fuel, is explored as a new approach to high gain, inertial confinement fusion targets for the National Ignition Facility (NIF). Results indicate thermonuclear yields of approximately 120-250 MJ may be possible with laser drive energies of 1-1.6 MJ, while gains of approximately 50 may still be achievable at only approximately 0.2 MJ drive energy. The scaling of NIF energy gain with laser energy is found to be G approximately 126E (MJ);{0.510}. This offers the potential for high-gain targets that may lead to smaller, more economic fusion power reactors and a cheaper fusion energy development path.
Perkins
L J
LJ
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
Betti
R
R
LaFortune
K N
KN
Williams
W H
WH