title: Core conditions for alpha heating attained in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion.
abstract: It is shown that direct-drive implosions on the OMEGA laser have achieved core conditions that would lead to significant alpha heating at incident energies available on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) scale. The extrapolation of the experimental results from OMEGA to NIF energy assumes only that the implosion hydrodynamic efficiency is unchanged at higher energies. This approach is independent of the uncertainties in the physical mechanism that degrade implosions on OMEGA, and relies solely on a volumetric scaling of the experimentally observed core conditions. It is estimated that the current best-performing OMEGA implosion [Regan et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 025001 (2016)10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.025001] extrapolated to a 1.9 MJ laser driver with the same illumination configuration and laser-target coupling would produce 125 kJ of fusion energy with similar levels of alpha heating observed in current highest performing indirect-drive NIF implosions.
authors: Fusion Science Center, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.|Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Bose
authors: Fusion Science Center, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.|Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: K M
authors: KM
authors: Woo
authors: Fusion Science Center, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.|Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Betti
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: E M
authors: EM
authors: Campbell
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Mangino
authors: Fusion Science Center, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.|Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: A R
authors: AR
authors: Christopherson
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: R L
authors: RL
authors: McCrory
authors: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Nora
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: S P
authors: SP
authors: Regan
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: V N
authors: VN
authors: Goncharov
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: T C
authors: TC
authors: Sangster
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: C J
authors: CJ
authors: Forrest
authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Frenje
authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Gatu Johnson
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: V Yu
authors: VY
authors: Glebov
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: J P
authors: JP
authors: Knauer
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: F J
authors: FJ
authors: Marshall
authors: Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Stoeckl
authors: Fusion Science Center, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.|Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14623, USA.
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Theobald