Critical temperature for volume ignition of deuterium–tritium fuel in inertial confinement fusion: Effects of hydrodynamic instabilities

Abstract

Volume ignition is an alternative approach to inertial confinement fusion. Due to igniting the whole fuel region rather than the central hot spot compared with the central hot-spot ignition, more laser energy is needed for volume ignition. Therefore, it is much desirable to examine the ignition margin for volume ignition. Hydrodynamic instabilities are major factors responsible for degrading inertial confinement fusion implosion performance. Hydrodynamic instabilities usually bring dramatic deformations of the fuel target, and accordingly, more radiation energy loss leaks from the fuel region. Therefore, the focus of this paper is on how they influence the radiation energy loss and increase critical temperatures for volume ignition. The present results show that critical ignition temperature increases both with the perturbation mode number and the perturbation amplitudes. What is more, we find that perturbations with longitudinal mode have a greater impact than those with latitudinal mode, and targets with lower deuterium–tritium mass are more vulnerable to perturbations. The present results are important and offer support for subsequent ignition-target design.