Understanding Implosion Physics Degradations to Advance IFE-Relevant targets

Lawson’s criterion has been exceeded in Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and target gain greater than unity (G > 1) has been demonstrated. Demonstrating ignition in the laboratory was a grand scientific challenge and yet harnessing that fusion energy will be yet another grand engineering challenge on the road to fusion power production via Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE).

One of the central questions facing an IFE reactor system is whether inertial fusion targets can produce significant energy gain, reliably, cheaply, and rapidly when integrated with the full reactor system. Ignition experiments from the NIF have shown a sensitivity to enhanced radiation losses induced by impurities from the capsule shell material mixing into the burning fusion fuel (mix) and implosion asymmetries because both effects compete with fusion heating. In this talk, we will overview a project to better understand these issues might degrade high-gain IFE implosions using HYDRA simulations, simplified rocket-piston models, AI-driven tools, OMEGA laser experiments, and experimental data on the NIF. The end goal is to understand how ongoing ignition experiments can inform high gain fusion power systems.

* This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-2008506. Supported by the U.S. DOE Early Career Research Program through the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences.