Volume ignition targets for heavy-ion inertial fusion

Abstract

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets can be imploded by heavy-ion beams (HIBs) in order to obtain a highly compressed fuel microsphere. The hydrodynamic efficiency of the compression can be optimized by tuning the ablation process in order to produce the total evaporation of the pusher material by the end of the implosion. Such pusherless compressions produce very highly compressed targets for relatively short confinement times. However, these times are long enough for a fusion burst to take place, and burnup fractions of 30% and higher can be obtained if the volume ignition requirements are met. Numerical simulations demonstrate that targets of 1-mg DT driven by a few MJ can yield energy gains of over 70. Although direct drive is used in these simulations, the main conclusions about volume ignition are also applicable to indirect drive.