Development of an inertial confinement fusion platform to study charged-particle-producing nuclear reactions relevant to nuclear astrophysics

Walter Greiner was one of the first physicists using Relativistic Fluid Dynamics for High Energy Nuclear Reactions. The present Inertial Confinement Fusion research and development is hindered by hydrodynamic instabilities, occurring at the intense compression of the target fuel by energetic laser beams. The suggested method combines recent advances in two fields: detonations in relativistic fluid dynamics and radiative energy deposition by plasmonic nano-shells. The compression of the target can be negligible and a laser pulse achieves rapid volume ignition, which is as short as the penetration time of the light across the pellet. The reflectivity of the target can be made negligible, and the absorptivity can be increased by one or two orders of magnitude using plasmonic nanoshells embedded in the target fuel. Thus, higher ignition temperature can be achieved with modest compression. The short light pulse can heat most of the interior of the target to the ignition temperature simultaneously. This prevents the development of any kind of instability, which would prevent complete ignition or transition of the target.

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Erratum: Charged-Particle Stopping Powers in Inertial Confinement Fusion Plasmas [Phys. Rev. Lett.70, 3059 (1993)]

Physical Review Letters ◽

10.1103/physrevlett.114.199901 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 114 (19) ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Chi-Kang Li ◽

Richard D. Petrasso

Keyword(s):

Charged Particle ◽

Inertial Confinement Fusion ◽

Inertial Confinement ◽

Fusion Plasmas ◽

Confinement Fusion

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Generalized expressions for momentum and energy losses of charged particle beams in non-Maxwellian multi-species plasmas and spherical symmetry

Journal of Plasma Physics ◽

10.1017/s0022377800000404 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 445-457

Author(s):

S. Cuperman ◽

I. Weiss ◽

M. Dryer

Keyword(s):

Charged Particle ◽

Inertial Confinement Fusion ◽

Distribution Functions ◽

Inertial Confinement ◽

Particle Beams ◽

Thermal Anisotropy ◽

Charged Particle Beams ◽

Confinement Fusion ◽

Fast Charged Particle

Generalized expressions for the rates of change of the momentum, energy and thermal anisotropy of fast, charged particle beams interacting with non-Maxwellian multi-species plasmas are derived. The results hold for the case of spherically symmetric systems and, therefore, are relevant for inertial confinement fusion schemes driven by fast charged particle beams and for various astro-physical situations. The calculations are based on the Fokker-Planckformalism. The effects connected with the departures from the Maxwellian distribution functions are expressed in terms of their fifth moments, , which reflect the role of the non-Maxwellian tails. The familiar stopping power expression holding for Maxwellian targets is recovered as a particular case.

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Neutron spectra from inertial confinement fusion targets for measurement of fuel areal density and charged particle stopping powers

Journal of Applied Physics ◽

10.1063/1.339850 ◽

1987 ◽

Vol 62 (6) ◽

pp. 2233-2236 ◽

Cited By ~ 66

Author(s):

M. D. Cable ◽

S. P. Hatchett

Keyword(s):

Charged Particle ◽

Inertial Confinement Fusion ◽

Areal Density ◽

Inertial Confinement ◽

Neutron Spectra ◽

Confinement Fusion

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A nonlinear theory of charged-particle stopping in non-ideal plasmas

Journal of Plasma Physics ◽

10.1017/s0022377896004709 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 57 (2) ◽

pp. 373-385 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

YU. S. SAYASOV

Keyword(s):

Charged Particle ◽

Heavy Ions ◽

Inertial Confinement Fusion ◽

Charged Particles ◽

Stopping Power ◽

Fermi Velocity ◽

Inertial Confinement ◽

Projectile Velocity ◽

Quantum Plasmas ◽

Confinement Fusion

The stopping power S=S1+SB for charged particles in non-ideal degenerate quantum plasmas is calculated with the help of the dielectric formalism in an approximation corresponding to taking account of the Barkas effect (the term SB; the term S1 corresponds to the Bethe formula). It is found that for a high projectile velocity vp>vF (where vF is the Fermi velocity) in non-ideal plasmas, SB∝e3pv−3p (where ep is the charge of the projectile), the well-known law for the Barkas effect, SB∝e3pv−5p being valid only for ideal plasmas. This relation explains a number of experiments on stopping of different charged particles (protons, muons and heavy ions) in metals without the introduction of fitted parameters. The possibility of extending of this theory to gaseous non-ideal plasmas arising in inertial-confinement fusion (ICF) experiments is also briefly discussed.

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