scholarly journals The National Ignition Facility: the path to a carbon-free energy future

2012 ◽  
Vol 370 (1973) ◽  
pp. 4115-4129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Stolz
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Basic Science ◽  
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Laser System ◽  
Energy Gain ◽  
Laser Fusion ◽  
National Ignition Facility ◽  
Thermonuclear Ignition

The National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world's largest and most energetic laser system, is now operational at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The NIF will enable exploration of scientific problems in national strategic security, basic science and fusion energy. One of the early NIF goals centres on achieving laboratory-scale thermonuclear ignition and energy gain, demonstrating the feasibility of laser fusion as a viable source of clean, carbon-free energy. This talk will discuss the precision technology and engineering challenges of building the NIF and those we must overcome to make fusion energy a commercial reality.

Laser nuclear fusion: current status, challenges and prospect

2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 729-738
Author(s):  
J. Badziak
Keyword(s):  
Hot Spot ◽  
Nuclear Fusion ◽  
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Thermonuclear Reactor ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Laser Fusion ◽  
Beam Laser

Abstract In 2009, in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA, National Ignition Facility (NIF) - the largest thermonuclear fusion device ever made was launched. Its main part is a multi-beam laser whose energy in nanosecond pulse exceeds 1MJ (106 J). Its task is to compress DT fuel to the density over a few thousand times higher than that of solid-state DT and heat it to 100 millions of K degrees. In this case, the process of fuel compression and heating is realized in an indirect way - laser radiation (in UV range) is converted in the so-called hohlraum (1 cm cylinder with a spherical DT pellet inside) into very intense soft X radiation symmetrically illuminating DT pellet. For the first time ever, the fusion device’s energetic parameters are sufficient for the achieving the ignition and self-sustained burn of thermonuclear fuel on a scale allowing for the generation of energy far bigger than that delivered to the fuel. The main purpose of the current experimental campaign on NIF is bringing about, within the next two-three years, a controlled thermonuclear ‘big bang’ in which the fusion energy will exceed the energy delivered by the laser at least ten times. The expected ‘big bang’ would be the culmination of fifty years of international efforts aiming at demonstrating both physical and technical feasibility of generating, in a controlled way, the energy from nuclear fusion in inertial confined plasma and would pave the way for practical realization of the laser-driven thermonuclear reactor. This paper briefly reviews the basic current concepts of laser fusion and main problems and challenges facing the research community dealing with this field. In particular, the conventional, central hot spot ignition approach to laser fusion is discussed together with the more recent ones - fast ignition, shock ignition and impact ignition fusion. The research projects directed towards building an experimental laser-driven thermonuclear reactor are presented as well

Inertial Confinement Fusion Program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: The National Ignition Facility, Inertial Fusion Energy, 100–1000 TW Lasers, and the Fast Igniter Concept

1997 ◽  
Vol 06 (04) ◽  
pp. 507-533
Author(s):  
W. Howard Lowdermilk
Keyword(s):  
Inertial Confinement Fusion ◽  
Peak Power ◽  
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Inertial Fusion ◽  
Inertial Fusion Energy ◽  
Inertial Confinement ◽  
National Ignition Facility ◽  
Confinement Fusion

The ultimate goal of worldwide research in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is to develop fusion as an inexhaustible, economic, environmentally safe source of electric power. Following nearly thirty years of laboratory and underground fusion experiments, the next step toward this goal is to demonstrate ignition and propagating burn of fusion fuel in the laboratory. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) Project is being constructed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) for just this purpose. NIF will use advanced Nd-glass laser technology to deliver 1.8 MJ of 0.35 μm laser light in a shaped pulse, several nanoseconds in duration, achieving a peak power of 500 TW. A national community of U.S. laboratories is participating in this project, now in its final design phase. France and the United Kingdom are collaborating on development of required technology under bilateral agreements with the US. This paper presents key aspects of the laser design, and descriptions of principal laser and optical components. Follow-on development of lasers to meet the demands of an inertial fusion energy (IFE) power plant is reviewed. In parallel with the NIF Project and IFE developments, work is proceeding on ultrashort pulse lasers with peak power in the range of 100–1000 TW. A beamline on the Nova laser at LLNL recently delivered nearly 600 J of 1 μm light in a 0.5 ps duration pulse, for a peak power in excess of a petawatt (1015 W). This beamline, with advanced adaptive optics, will be capable of focused intensities in excess of 1021 W/cm2. Its primary purpose will be to test technological and scientific aspects of an alternate ignition concept, called the "Fast Igniter", that has the potential to produce higher fusion gain than conventional ICF.

scholarly journals Direct-drive laser fusion: status, plans and future

2020 ◽  
Vol 379 (2189) ◽  
pp. 20200011 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. M. Campbell ◽  
T. C. Sangster ◽  
V. N. Goncharov ◽  
J. D. Zuegel ◽  
S. F. B. Morse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Laser Plasma ◽  
Inertial Confinement Fusion ◽  
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ◽  
Fusion Energy ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Energy Coupling ◽  
High Gain ◽  
Laser Fusion ◽  
Inertial Confinement ◽  
Direct Drive

Laser-direct drive (LDD), along with laser indirect (X-ray) drive (LID) and magnetic drive with pulsed power, is one of the three viable inertial confinement fusion approaches to achieving fusion ignition and gain in the laboratory. The LDD programme is primarily being executed at both the Omega Laser Facility at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics and at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. LDD research at Omega includes cryogenic implosions, fundamental physics including material properties, hydrodynamics and laser–plasma interaction physics. LDD research on the NIF is focused on energy coupling and laser–plasma interactions physics at ignition-scale plasmas. Limited implosions on the NIF in the ‘polar-drive’ configuration, where the irradiation geometry is configured for LID, are also a feature of LDD research. The ability to conduct research over a large range of energy, power and scale size using both Omega and the NIF is a major positive aspect of LDD research that reduces the risk in scaling from OMEGA to megajoule-class lasers. The paper will summarize the present status of LDD research and plans for the future with the goal of ultimately achieving a burning plasma in the laboratory. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Prospects for high gain inertial fusion energy (part 2)’.

scholarly journals Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities in high-energy density settings on the National Ignition Facility

2018 ◽  
Vol 116 (37) ◽  
pp. 18233-18238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Remington ◽  
Hye-Sook Park ◽  
Daniel T. Casey ◽  
Robert M. Cavallo ◽  
Daniel S. Clark ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Density ◽  
Inertial Confinement Fusion ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
High Energy ◽  
High Energy Density ◽  
Material Strength ◽  
National Ignition Facility ◽  
Rt Instability

The Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instability occurs at an interface between two fluids of differing density during an acceleration. These instabilities can occur in very diverse settings, from inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions over spatial scales of∼10−3−10−1cm (10–1,000 μm) to supernova explosions at spatial scales of∼1012cm and larger. We describe experiments and techniques for reducing (“stabilizing”) RT growth in high-energy density (HED) settings on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Three unique regimes of stabilization are described: (i) at an ablation front, (ii) behind a radiative shock, and (iii) due to material strength. For comparison, we also show results from nonstabilized “classical” RT instability evolution in HED regimes on the NIF. Examples from experiments on the NIF in each regime are given. These phenomena also occur in several astrophysical scenarios and planetary science [Drake R (2005)Plasma Phys Controlled Fusion47:B419–B440; Dahl TW, Stevenson DJ (2010)Earth Planet Sci Lett295:177–186].

scholarly journals Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's activities to achieve ignition by X-ray drive on the National Ignition Facility

1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.D. KILKENNY ◽  
T.P. BERNAT ◽  
B.A. HAMMEL ◽  
R.L. KAUFFMAN ◽  
O.L. LANDEN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inertial Confinement Fusion ◽  
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Sandia National Laboratory ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Naval Research ◽  
Inertial Confinement ◽  
National Ignition Facility ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Omega Laser

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a MJ-class glass laser-based facility funded by the Department of Energy which has achieved thermonuclear ignition and moderate gain as one of its main objectives. In the summer of 1998, the project was about 40% complete, and design and construction was on schedule and on cost. The NIF will start firing onto targets in 2001, and will achieve full energy in 2004. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) together with the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have the main responsibility for achieving X-ray driven ignition on the NIF. In the 1990s, a comprehensive series of experiments on Nova at LLNL, followed by recent experiments on the Omega laser at the University of Rochester, demonstrated confidence in understanding the physics of X-ray drive implosions. The same physics at equivalent scales is used in calculations to predict target performance on the NIF, giving credence to calculations of ignition on the NIF. An integrated program of work in preparing the NIF for X-ray driven ignition in about 2007, and the key issues being addressed on the current Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) facilities [(Nova, Omega, Z at Sandia National Laboratory (SNL) and NIKE at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)], are described.

K-shell spectroscopy of Au plasma generated with a short-pulse laser1This article is part of a Special Issue on the 10th International Colloquium on Atomic Spectra and Oscillator Strengths for Astrophysical and Laboratory Plasmas.

2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (5) ◽  
pp. 647-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Zulick ◽  
F. Dollar ◽  
H. Chen ◽  
K. Falk ◽  
G. Gregori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Short Pulse ◽  
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Laser System ◽  
Oscillator Strengths ◽  
X Rays ◽  
Plasma Diagnostic ◽  
International Colloquium ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Population Distributions

The production of X-rays from electron transitions into K-shell vacancies (Kα,β) emission) is a well-known process in atomic physics and has been extensively studied as a plasma diagnostic in low- and mid-Z materials. However, X-ray spectra from near neutral high-Z ions are very complex, and their interpretation requires the use of state-of-the-art atomic calculations. In this experiment, the Titan laser system at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was used to deliver an approximately 350 J laser pulse, with a 10 ps duration and a wavelength of 1054 nm, to a gold (Au) target. A transparent bent quartz crystal spectrometer with a hard X-ray energy window, ranging from 17 to 102 keV, was used to measure the emission spectrum. Kα1,α2 and Kβ1,γ1 transitions were observed over a range of target sizes. Additionally, a series of shots were conducted with a pre-ionizing long pulse (3 ns, 1–10 J, 527 nm) on the backside of the target. FLYCHK, an atomic non-LTE code, designed to provide ionization and population distributions, was used to model the experiment. Kα/Kβ ratios were found to be in good agreement with the predicted value for room temperature Au targets.

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