학술논문
Enhanced energy coupling for indirectly driven inertial confinement fusion
Document Type
Article
Author
Ping, Y.; Smalyuk, V. A.; Amendt, P.; Tommasini, R.; Field, J. E.; Khan, S.; Bennett, D.; Dewald, E.; Graziani, F.; Johnson, S.; Landen, O. L.; MacPhee, A. G.; Nikroo, A.; Pino, J.; Prisbrey, S.; Ralph, J.; Seugling, R.; Strozzi, D.; Tipton, R. E.; Wang, Y. M.; Loomis, E.; Merritt, E.; Montgomery, D.
Source
Nature Physics; February 2019, Vol. 15 Issue: 2 p138-141, 4p
Subject
Language
ISSN
17452473; 17452481
Abstract
Recent experiments in the study of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the United States have reached the so-called alpha-heating regime1–3, in which the self-heating by fusion products becomes dominant, with neutron yields now exceeding 1 × 1016(ref. 4) However, there are still challenges on the path towards ignition, such as minimization of the drive asymmetry, suppression of laser-plasma instabilities, and mitigation of fabrication features5. In addition, in the current cylindrical-hohlraum indirect drive schemes for ICF, a strong limitation is the inefficient (≤10%) absorption of the laser-produced hohlraum X-rays by the capsule as set by relative capsule-to-hohlraum surface areas. Here we report an experiment demonstrating ~30% energy coupling to an aluminium capsule in a rugby-shaped6, gold hohlraum. This high coupling efficiency can substantially increase the tolerance to residual imperfections and improve the prospects for ignition, both in mainline single-shell hot-spot designs and potential double-shell targets.