Status of direct-drive laser fusion target designs

Author

Bodner, Stephen E.

Author_Institution

Div. of Plasma Phys., Naval Res. Lab., Washington, DC, USA

Volume

2

fYear

1997

fDate

6-10 Oct 1997

Firstpage

588

Abstract

There is now substantial evidence that a direct-drive target driven with a krypton fluoride laser can reach ignition. Sufficient laser beam uniformity has been achieved with optical beam smoothing. Laser-plasma instabilities can likely be controlled with a short laser wavelength, with optical beam smoothing, and with the angular overlap of multiple laser beams. The Rayleigh-Taylor instability can be controlled by preheating the ablator. Targets are now being designed that satisfy all of these constraints. They may also have enough energy gain for a fusion reactor

Keywords

Rayleigh-Taylor instability; excimer lasers; fusion reactor ignition; krypton compounds; plasma heating by laser; plasma inertial confinement; plasma instability; plasma production by laser; ICF; KrF; Rayleigh-Taylor instability; angular overlap; direct-drive laser fusion target designs; fusion reactor; inertial confinement fusion; laser beam uniformity; laser-plasma instabilities; multiple laser beams; optical beam smoothing; Costs; Fuels; Fusion reactor design; Gas lasers; Laser beams; Laser fusion; Laser theory; Optical beams; Optical design; Physics;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Fusion Engineering, 1997. 17th IEEE/NPSS Symposium

Conference_Location

San Diego, CA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4226-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/FUSION.1997.687696

Filename

687696