Polar Direct Drive Inertial Fusion Energy Target designs for high energy lasers

Inertial fusion energy (IFE) is a promising future energy source, but designing reliable, robust fusion targets remains a challenge. Achieving the high repetition rates requires IFE systems to employee simplicity for repitition robustness for energy production. Our research explores symetric polar direct drive (PDD) configurations to address this challenge. PDD designs use direct laser illuminate of the fusion capsule from two poles, leaving the equatorial region open for energy production. This approach aimes to simplify both the laser and target structures while enabling high gain fusion burn. We validation simulations choices using a common modeling framework developed at LANLon existing data from the Omega laser facility and the National Ignition Facility. These studies provide credibility in our model choices, as well as insights into the scaling of PDD capsules by factors of a few. We are developing PDD target designs for two configurations: a two beam and a multi-beam PDD arrangement. To explore designs efficiently, we implemented a multi-fidelity Bayesian optimization algorithm. This approach allows us to systematically identify promising target designs while minimizing the computational burden. Promising designs are interrogated for robustness due to multi-dimensional effects such as asymmetry, hydrodynamic instability, laser imprint etc. This presentation discusses integration to address key challenges in the development of practical inertial fusion energy target designs.