Progress towards thick liquid fusion chambers for assisted-pinch and solenoid focusings

The “robust point design” (RPD) (Fusion Sci. Technol. 44 (2003) 266) describes a self-consistent heavy-ion inertial fusion power plant based on a single linear accelerator and the neutralized ballistic beam transport scheme. The heavy-ion fusion community is exploring the feasibility of a modular driver made of several, medium-sized accelerators—this approach has the potential to offer a faster and cheaper development path to a viable fusion power plant. Thick-liquid target chambers compatible with the assisted-pinch and solenoid final-focusing schemes are discussed. Gas dynamics simulations performed with the Berkeley TSUNAMI code are presented for the assisted-pinch chamber.