DOE OSTI · 3419943
Performance enhancement of direct-drive shock-augmented ignition inertial fusion implosions through shock timing optimization
Abstract
Shock-augmented ignition (SAI) [R. H. H. Scott et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 195001 (2022)] is an alternative inertial confinement fusion concept that is designed to achieve high energy gain by combining improved resilience to instabilities with enhanced fuel compression. In SAI, lower implosion velocities can improve hydrodynamic stability and limited laser intensities reduce the excitation of detrimental laser-plasma instabilities, enabling greater areal density accumulation. Here we report an experimental investigation of SAI using a series of warm D 2 implosions. By timing the augmenting shock to arrive at the implosion center immediately prior to peak compression, the areal density and hot-spot pressure increase by 50% and 112%, respectively, relative to unoptimized designs. Ignition-scale simulations reproduce the observed timing dependence and demonstrate the potential of SAI for inertial fusion energy.
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Khan, Matthew [STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (United Kingdom); University of York (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000344480125), Churnetski, K. [University of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000333372647), Barlow, D. E. M. [CEA, DAM, DIF, Arpajon (France); École Polytechnique, Palaiseau (France)] (ORCID:0000000328514815), Betti, R. [University of Rochester, NY (United States)], Freeman, C. [STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (United Kingdom); University of York (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000254644181), Glize, K. [STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000273937449), Kunimune, J. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000170765891), Lees, A. [University of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000345734035), Mancini, R. [University of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States)] (ORCID:0000000286497251), Nutter, A. [STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (United Kingdom); University of York (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000343966385), Paddock, R. W. [STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000207129283), Regan, S. [University of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000163597172), Stoeckl, C. [University of Rochester, NY (United States)] (ORCID:0000000153755800), Theobald, W. [University of Rochester, NY (United States); Focused Energy GmbH, Darmstadt (Germany)], Woolsey, N. [University of York (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000224449027), Scott, R. H. H. [STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000238413666). 2026-06-16. Performance enhancement of direct-drive shock-augmented ignition inertial fusion implosions through shock timing optimization. https://doi.org/10.1103/zl4y-4blx
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