Laser application for fusion using volume ignition and smoothing by suppression of pulsation

Heinrich Hora; M. Aydin; G. Kasotakis; R. L. Stening

doi:10.1117/12.46900

1 October 1991 Laser application for fusion using volume ignition and smoothing by suppression of pulsation

Heinrich Hora, M. Aydin, G. Kasotakis, R. L. Stening

Proceedings Volume 1502, Industrial and Scientific Uses of High-Power Lasers; (1991) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.46900
Event: ECO4 (The Hague '91), 1991, The Hague, Netherlands

Abstract

Laser fusion has achieved the level today that the physical mechanisms for an economic production (at the costs of light water reactors) of energy has been confirmed, based on underground tests using 10 MJ laser pulses. This scheme is based on conversion of the laser radiation into x rays for smoothing, called hohlraum or indirect drive, and on central spark ignition. The authors present an improvement of this scheme by the following two advancements: (a) More efficient direct drive. The long misunderstood 10 psec pulsating laser- plasma interaction, which cannot be dominated by stimulated Raman nor Brillouin scattering as confirmed experimentally by P.R. Drake and C. Labaune et at., is now understood from a very detailed computation showing how the laser radiation causes partial standing waves in the corona and spatial density ripple, followed by reflection far out at very low density (as measured by Maddever and Luther-Davies), with subsequent hydrodynamic decay of the ripples, repeated penetration of the light through the corona, standing ware generation etc., within 10 to 20 psec. (b) Use of volume ignition of ICF pellets. The mechanisms of self heat by charged fusion reaction products permit a very transparent computation of optimized fusion gains where the strongly lowered initial temperatures and the strong heating of the pellets after volume ignition result in fusion gains beyond 1000 for the not too high compression of DT.

Citation Download Citation

Heinrich Hora, M. Aydin, G. Kasotakis, and R. L. Stening "Laser application for fusion using volume ignition and smoothing by suppression of pulsation", Proc. SPIE 1502, Industrial and Scientific Uses of High-Power Lasers, (1 October 1991); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.46900

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available