Abstract
Shock ignition of DT capsules involves two major steps. First, the fuel is assembled by means of a low velocity conventional implosion. At stagnation, the central core has a temperature lower than the one needed for ignition. Then a second, strong spherical converging shock, launched from a high intensity laser spike, arrives to the core. This shock crosses the core, rebounds at the target center and increases the central pressure to the ignition conditions. In this work we consider this latter phase by using the Guderley self-similar solution for converging flows. Our model accounts for the fusion reaction energy deposition, thermal and radiation losses thus describing the basic physics of hot spot ignition. The ignition criterion derived from the analytical model is successfully compared with full scale hydrodynamic simulations.
Highlights
Inertial confinement fusion relies on the central hot spot ignition following the implosion of a spherical capsule by the laser ablation pressure
Our model accounts for the fusion reaction energy deposition, thermal and radiation losses describing the basic physics of hot spot ignition
The simulations show that such ignition conditions in the direct or indirect drive scheme can be achieved for the shell implosion velocity of 350–400 km/s
Summary
Inertial confinement fusion relies on the central hot spot ignition following the implosion of a spherical capsule by the laser ablation pressure. The compression can be accomplished at a lower implosion velocity of ∼200–300 km/s, and the fuel in the hot spot is ignited by launching a strong spherical converging shock before the shell stagnation [1,2,3]. The ignition shock launched from the outside imploding shell makes a complicated evolution before reaching the central hot spot. It converges and crosses the return shock in the shell. It is amplified in this collision and enters in the compressed region just before the stagnation time [5, 7] It enters in the hot spot, converges to the center, and heats the core after the rebound.
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