The influence of the state of a compressed thermonuclear substance on the combustion of inertial fusion targets under direct ignition by a short radiation pulse

Abstract

One-dimensional numerical calculations were performed to study the dependence of conditions for initiating thermonuclear combustion and of the target gain of direct-ignition inertial fusion targets ignited by a short radiation pulse on the initial temperature of a preliminarily compressed fuel and the initial heat energy distribution between plasma electrons and ions in the ignition region (igniter). The igniter parameters at which an effective thermonuclear target explosion with a G ∼ 103 target gain occurred were shown to substantially depend on the initial temperature of the major fuel fraction and the initial heat energy distribution between igniter electrons and ions. The heat energy of the igniter passed a minimum as the size of the igniter decreased. The dependences of these minimum energies on the temperature of the major fuel fraction at various initial energy distributions between igniter electrons and ions were determined. An increase in the temperature of the major fuel fraction was shown to decrease the target gain.