Achieving A Hydrodynamically Equivalent Burning Plasma in Direct-Drive Laser Fusion
| Title: | Achieving A Hydrodynamically Equivalent Burning Plasma in Direct-Drive Laser Fusion |
|---|---|
| Authors: | V. Gopalaswamy; C. A. Williams; R. Betti; D. Patel; J. P. Knauer; A. Lees; D. Cao; E. M. Campbell; P. Farmakis; R. Ejaz; K. S. Anderson; R. Epstein; J. Carroll-Nellenbeck; I. V. Igumenshchev; J. A. Marozas; P. B. Radha; A. A. Solodov; C. A. Thomas; K. M. Woo; T. J. B. Collins; S. X. Hu; W. Scullin; D. Turnbull; V. N. Goncharov; K. Churnetski; C. J. Forrest; V. Yu. Glebov; P. V. Heuer; H. McClow; R. C. Shah; C. Stoeckl; W. Theobald; D. H. Edgell; S. Ivancic; M. J. Rosenberg; S. P. Regan; D. Bredesen; C. Fella; M. Koch; R. T. Janezic; M. J. Bonino; D. R. Harding; K. A. Bauer; S. Sampat; L. J. Waxer; M. Labuzeta; S. F. B. Morse; M. Gatu-Johnson; R. D. Petrasso; J. A. Frenje; J. Murray; B. Serrato; D. Guzman; C. Shuldberg; M. Farrell; C. Deeney |
| Publisher Information: | Harvard Dataverse |
| Publication Year: | 2024 |
| Collection: | Harvard Dataverse Network |
| Subject Terms: | Physics; burning plasma; direct drive; hydrodynamic scaling; inertial confinement fusion; OMEGA Laser Facility |
| Description: | 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. |
| Document Type: | other/unknown material |
| Language: | unknown |
| Relation: | https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/APCCNI |
| DOI: | 10.7910/DVN/APCCNI |
| Availability: | https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/APCCNI |
| Accession Number: | edsbas.FC98DCCB |
| Database: | BASE |