Demonstration of hot-spot fuel gain exceeding unity in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions
| Title: | Demonstration of hot-spot fuel gain exceeding unity in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions |
|---|---|
| Authors: | C. A. Williams; R. Betti; V. Gopalaswamy; J. P. Knauer; C. J. Forrest; A. Lees; R. Ejaz; P. S. Farmakis; D. Cao; P. B. Radha; K. S. Anderson; S. P. Regan; V. Yu Glebov; R. C. Shah; C. Stoeckl; S. Ivancic; K. Churnetski; R. T. Janezic; C. Fella; M. J. Rosenberg; M. J. Bonino; D. R. Harding; W. T. Shmayda; J. Carroll-Nellenback; S. X. Hu; R. Epstein; T. J. B. Collins; C. A. Thomas; I. V. Igumenshchev; V. N. Goncharov; W. Theobald; K. M. Woo; J. A. Marozas; K. A. Bauer; S. Sampat; L. J. Waxer; D. Turnbull; P. V. Heuer; H. McClow; L. Ceurvorst; W. Scullin; D. H. Edgell; M. Koch; D. Bredesen; M. Gatu Johnson; J. A. Frenje; R. D. Petrasso; C. Shuldberg; M. Farrell; J. Murray; D. Guzman; B. Serrato; S. F. B. Morse; M. Labuzeta; C. Deeney; E. M. Campbell |
| Publisher Information: | Harvard Dataverse |
| Publication Year: | 2024 |
| Collection: | Harvard Dataverse Network |
| Subject Terms: | Physics; direct drive; hot-spot fuel gain; hydrodynamic scaling; inertial confinement fusion; OMEGA Laser Facility |
| Description: | Irradiating a small capsule containing deuterium and tritium fuel directly with intense laser light causes it to implode, which creates a plasma hot enough to initiate fusion reactions between the fuel nuclei. Here we report on such laser direct-drive experiments and observe that the fusion reactions produce more energy than the amount of energy in the central so-called hot-spot plasma. This condition is identified as having a hot-spot fuel gain greater than unity. A hot-spot fuel gain of around four was previously accomplished at the National Ignition Facility in indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion experiments where the capsule is irradiated by X-rays. In that case, up to 1.9 MJ of laser energy was used, but in contrast, our experiments on the OMEGA laser system require as little as 28 kJ. As the hot-spot fuel gain is predicted to grow with laser energy and target size, our work establishes the direct-drive approach to inertial fusion as a promising path towards burning and ignited plasmas in the laboratory. Additionally, we report a record (direct-drive) fusion yield of 0.9 kJ on OMEGA, which we achieved with thin-ice deuterium–tritium liner targets. |
| Document Type: | other/unknown material |
| Language: | unknown |
| Relation: | https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/SJBTHT |
| DOI: | 10.7910/DVN/SJBTHT |
| Availability: | https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/SJBTHT |
| Accession Number: | edsbas.C5FE9B7 |
| Database: | BASE |