Proton-beam driver transport in the fast ignition of proton–boron-11 fuel plasma

Abstract

The invention of Chirped Pulse Amplification lasers along with the development of fast ignition methods have made fuels such as proton–boron-11 seem promising nuclear fusion energy sources because of their lack of high-energy neutrons and abundance of constituent isotopes. This paper investigates the transport of charged particles in proton–boron-11 fuel. In this study, the confinement parameter has been estimated as [Formula: see text] g/cm2 with the help of a proton driver in the fast ignition method for proton–boron-11 fuel pellets, with a ratio of boron-11 to proton [Formula: see text]. Subsequently, using the Li–Petrasso stopping-power model, the energy deposition coefficients of the accelerated proton-beam driver were calculated by the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration method with 1 MeV energy. The obtained results show that at a temperature of about 65 keV, the proton-beam driver with 1 MeV energy deposits about 85% of its energy in the hot spot area of 2.5 [Formula: see text]m depth from the surface of the fuel pellet to ignite the proton–boron-11 fuel pellet.