학술논문
Demonstration of a hydrodynamically equivalent burning plasma in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion
Document Type
Original Paper
Author
Gopalaswamy, V.; Williams, C. A.; Betti, R.; Patel, D.; Knauer, J. P.; Lees, A.; Cao, D.; Campbell, E. M.; Farmakis, P.; Ejaz, R.; Anderson, K. S.; Epstein, R.; Carroll-Nellenbeck, J.; Igumenshchev, I. V.; Marozas, J. A.; Radha, P. B.; Solodov, A. A.; Thomas, C. A.; Woo, K. M.; Collins, T. J. B.; Hu, S. X.; Scullin, W.; Turnbull, D.; Goncharov, V. N.; Churnetski, K.; Forrest, C. J.; Glebov, V. Yu.; Heuer, P. V.; McClow, H.; Shah, R. C.; Stoeckl, C.; Theobald, W.; Edgell, D. H.; Ivancic, S.; Rosenberg, M. J.; Regan, S. P.; Bredesen, D.; Fella, C.; Koch, M.; Janezic, R. T.; Bonino, M. J.; Harding, D. R.; Bauer, K. A.; Sampat, S.; Waxer, L. J.; Labuzeta, M.; Morse, S. F. B.; Gatu-Johnson, M.; Petrasso, R. D.; Frenje, J. A.; Murray, J.; Serrato, B.; Guzman, D.; Shuldberg, C.; Farrell, M.; Deeney, C.
Source
Nature Physics. 20(5):751-757
Subject
Language
English
ISSN
1745-2473
1745-2481
1745-2481
Abstract
Focussing laser light onto the surface of a small target filled with deuterium and tritium implodes it and leads to the creation of a hot and dense plasma, in which thermonuclear fusion reactions occur. In order for the plasma to become self-sustaining, the heating of the plasma must be dominated by the energy provided by the fusion reactions—a condition known as a burning plasma. A metric for this is the generalized Lawson parameter, where values above around 0.8 imply a burning plasma. Here, we report on hydro-equivalent scaling of experimental results on the OMEGA laser system and show that these have achieved core conditions that reach a burning plasma when the central part of the plasma, the hotspot, is scaled in size by at least a factor of 3.9 ± 0.10, which would require a driver laser energy of at least 1.7 ± 0.13 MJ. In addition, we hydro-equivalently scale the results to the 2.15 MJ of laser energy available at the National Ignition Facility and find that these implosions reach 86% of the Lawson parameter required for ignition. Our results support direct-drive inertial confinement fusion as a credible approach for achieving thermonuclear ignition and net energy in laser fusion.
Hydro-equivalent scaling of recent direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions shows that a burning plasma can be achieved with a higher laser energy.
Hydro-equivalent scaling of recent direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions shows that a burning plasma can be achieved with a higher laser energy.