An Investigation of Effective Parameters in Deuterium-Tritium Fuel Gains in Shock Ignition Method Driven by Laser Beams

Abstract

Shock ignition (SI) is one of the methods considered in the concept of inertial confinement fusion (ICF). This two-step ICF process separates fuel assembly and ignition, relaxing the driver requirements and promising high gains. In SI scheme, a strong spherical shock wave converging at the end of the initial laser pulse ignites the pre-compressed fuel. In shock ignition, when the hot spot pressure is much higher than the surrounding cold fuel pressure, the fuel structure is considered non-isobaric. In this research, ignition conditions and fuel efficiency in shock ignition method were investigated. Then, the fuel efficiency correlations of total fuel energy, fuel gain and hot-spot radius in a non-isobaric model of fuel assembly were improved and compared with the numerical results of deuterium-tritium (DT) homogeneous fuel in SI scenario. Calculations showed that the hot spot formation conditions depend on the hot spot density and the surrounding cold fuel. Furthermore, using the improved energy efficiency equation, the role of physical parameters such as fuel mass and different ratios of hot spot pressure to the surrounding cold fuel pressure in energy efficiency were investigated.