Hot electron transport and heating in dense plasma core by hollow guiding

Abstract

AbstractA new scheme for cone-hollow-assisted fast ignition in inertial fusion is investigated. A hollow is attached to the tip of a conventional gold cone. The transport and heating of the high-current electrons propagating from the cone tip to the compressed fuel core along the hollow is investigated by two-dimensional hybrid simulation. Different hollow geometry sizes are examinized. It is shown that with proper hollow guiding, hot electrons can be collimated between the inner-walls of the hollow by the large interface magnetic fields appearing on the inner surface. When the beam electrons further propagate into the dense region, they are scattered into the gold hollow through collisions with the fuel electrons and ions. The resulting magnetic potential around the hollow then bends beam electrons along the gold hollow to reach the dense core.