Berlin 2001 – scientific programme

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P: Plasmaphysik

P 3: Dense Plasmas

P 3.3: Talk

Tuesday, April 3, 2001, 17:00–17:15, 2053

Fast coronal ignition of fusion pellets by intense laser pulses — •P. Mulser and S. Hain — Theoretical Quantum Electronics, Darmstadt University of Technology, Hochschulstr. 4a, 64289 Darmstadt

The idea of fast ignition gave a new impetus to inertial confinement fusion with lasers and heavy ion beams. However, detailed investigations have shown that Max Tabak’s original concept of central ignition with an electron beam produced by a superintense laser pulse is not feasible. Instead, we propose ignition by direct energy deposition in the pellet corona. Plasmadynamics simulations show, that coronal ignition is possible, leads to high burn fractions and is rather insensitive to asymmetries in pellet compression and to the growth of Rayleigh-Taylor modes. An optimized pellet design for coronal ignition is discussed.