Modeling of the non-Maxwellian response of DT plasmas to alpha particle transport in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) hotspot

Abstract

In the alpha particle transport in ICF hotspot, previous models focus mainly on how the incident particles lose their energy but lost sight of how the target particles will respond to this lost energy. In this paper, we developed a novel single-scattering model based on the Monte Carlo method, which abandons the stopping-power and models every single-scattering event in the alpha particle life. It enables to describe both the energy stopping of the incident alpha particle and the target particles response to the collisions. With this model, it shows that the target DT-ions at the ICF hotspot boundary will be non-Maxwellian distributed after colliding with the high-energy alpha particles, which refers to a much higher fusion reactivity compared with a Maxwellian one. At the same time, this model gives a longer and dispersed alpha particle range in hotspot plasmas and suggests that the traditionally used stopping power models would overestimate the stopping ability of the target particles.