Speaker
Riccardo Betti
Description
See the full Abstract at http://ocs.ciemat.es/EPS2018ABS/pdf/I1.003.pdf
Progress in inertial confinement fusion via lasers:
how close to ignition and burn?
Riccardo Betti
Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Recent progress in both direct- and indirect-drive ICF (inertial confinement fusion) has
considerably improved the prospects for achieving thermonuclear ignition with
megajoule-class lasers. Fusion yields from recent indirect-drive HDC (high-density carbon)
implosions have exceeded 50 kJ, bringing the fusion core close to burning-plasma
conditions. The improvements come from enhanced control of the hohlraum energetics, use
of more-efficient HDC ablators, and reduced impact of engineering features. When scaled to
NIF laser energies, recent direct-drive implosions on OMEGA are expected to produce close
to 300 kJ of fusion yield. Those implosions have benefited from a significant increase in
implosion velocity obtained through larger-diameter targets and thinner ice layers. A new
statistical approach used in designing OMEGA targets has demonstrated a considerable
predictive capability, thereby enabling the design of targets with improved performance. In
addition, more advanced fusion schemes like shock ignition are rapidly developing thanks to
dedicated experiments designed to validate the physics basis of such new schemes. This
material is based upon work supported by the Department of Energy National Nuclear
Security Administration under Award Number DE-NA0001944, the University of
Rochester, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and LLNL
under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. The support of DOE does not constitute an
endorsement by DOE of the views expressed in this article.
