Progress in the shock-ignition inertial confinement fusion concept

¹ Laboratory for Laser Energetics and Fusion Science Center, Rochester, NY, USA
² CEA, DAM, DIF, Arpajon, France
³ Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications, University of Bordeaux, France
⁴ Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Physics, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
⁵ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
⁶ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA

^a e-mail: wthe@lle.rochester.edu

Published online: 15 November 2013

Abstract

Shock-ignition experiments with peak laser intensities of ∼8 × 10¹⁵ W/cm² were performed. D₂-filled plastic shells were compressed on a low adiabat by 40 of the 60 OMEGA beams. The remaining 20 beams were delayed and tightly focused onto the imploding shell to generate a strong shock. Up to 35% backscattering of laser energy was measured at the highest intensity. Hard x-ray measurements reveal a relatively low hot-electron temperature of ∼40 keV, independent of intensity and spike onset time.