title: Alpha Heating and Burning Plasmas in Inertial Confinement Fusion.
abstract: Estimating the level of alpha heating and determining the onset of the burning plasma regime is essential to finding the path towards thermonuclear ignition. In a burning plasma, the alpha heating exceeds the external input energy to the plasma. Using a simple model of the implosion, it is shown that a general relation can be derived, connecting the burning plasma regime to the yield enhancement due to alpha heating and to experimentally measurable parameters such as the Lawson ignition parameter. A general alpha-heating curve is found, independent of the target and suitable to assess the performance of all laser fusion experiments whether direct or indirect drive. The onset of the burning plasma regime inside the hot spot of current implosions on the National Ignition Facility requires a fusion yield of about 50 kJ.
authors.affiliation: Fusion Science Center and Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Betti
authors.affiliation: Fusion Science Center and Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Christopherson
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
authors.forename: B K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Spears
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nora
authors.affiliation: Fusion Science Center and Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bose
authors.affiliation: Fusion Science Center and Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.affiliation: Fusion Science Center and Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Woo
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: Universidad Politcnica de Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sanz