Numerical analysis on the thermal distribution of directional infrared deuterium capsule in ICF

Abstract

This study presents a numerical study on the thermal distribution of the directional infrared heated capsule in inertial confinement fusion. The numerical model, combining the calculation of the directional infrared illumination and the thermal distribution, is validated through a thermal vacuum test of an umbrella-shaped antenna for infrared model and a test target for thermal model. Over 200 directional infrared conditions have been simulated and the investigation results indicate that the suitable directional infrared power, illumination band width and distance between both illumination bands can effectively improve the temperature uniformity of the capsule. For both illumination bands fixed at the equator of the hohlraum, the temperature uniformity of the capsule deteriorates as the band width increases in the range from 0.2 to 0.4 mm, and it can be predicted that the temperature uniformity of the capsule can be further improved with the band width of less than 0.2 mm. For the illumination band width of 0.3 mm, an appropriate distance (0.4 mm in the paper) between both illumination bands can further improve the temperature uniformity of the capsule. The work has significant support for the infrared configuration design of ICF targets.