Abstract
HIGH density pellet compression may be important in laser fusion1. In this way the minimum energy input for breakeven can be substantially reduced to levels within reach of expected future laser technology. Further2 when this concept is applied to a fissionable pellet surrounded by a small neutron reflector, preferably TD, which is compressed together with the reflector, to high densities, very small critical masses become possible; in addition the fission process could ignite a thermonuclear reaction in the TD reflector. In these proposals very large laser energies of ∼ 1 MJ, which may be difficult to reach, are required. As an alternative to laser fusion I have proposed the use of intense relativistic electron beams3, but here the beam pulse length is longer than for laser beams, and the electron stopping range may be too long.
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