Inertial confinement fusion / James J. Duderstadt, Gregory A.

Moses.
Duderstadt, James J., 1942-
New York : Wiley, [1982]

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 Inertial

Confinement Fusion
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Inertial

Confinement Fusion

JAMES J. DUDERSTADT

Department ot Nuclear Engineering

The University of Michigan

GREGORY A. MOSES

Department of Nuclear Engineering

The University of Wisconsin

A Wiley-Interscience Publication

JOHN WILEY & SONS

New York Chichester Brisbane Toronto

Singapore
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Copyright © 1982 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

All rights reserved. Published simultaneously in Canada.

Reproduction or translation of any part of this work

beyond that permitted by Sections 107 or 108 of the

1976 United States Copyright Act without the permission

of the copyright owner is unlawful. Requests for

permission or further information should be addressed to

the Permissions Department. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data:

Duderstadt, James J., 1942-

Inertial confinement fusion.

"A Wiley-Interscience publication."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

I. Pellet fusion. I. Moses, Gregory A.

II. Title.

TK9204.D82 621.48*4 81-11472

ISBN 0-471-09050-6 AACR2

Printed in the United States of America

10 987654321
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 PA c To our parents
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Preface

Controlled thermonuclear fusion may someday provide a clean, safe, and

abundant source of energy. But the difficulties involved in demonstrating the

scientific feasibility of this process, in igniting and controlling the fusion fire,

are formidable. Controlled fusion has proven to be an elusive goal. Today,

after some 30 years of effort, we stand only on the threshold of demonstrating

its feasibility. The challenges of developing a viable fusion technology capable

of massive implementation will almost certainly require an even greater effort.

Most fusion research to date has been directed at confining a dilute fusion

fuel using cleverly designed magnetic fields. However, during the past decade

an alternative approach known as inertial confinement fusion has begun to

receive considerable attention. In this approach intense laser or charged

particle beams are used to rapidly compress a tiny pellet of fusion fuel,

typically from 1 to 5 mm in diameter, to the enormous densities and tempera-

tures required for efficient thermonuclear burn. If the fuel pellet is compressed

to sufficient densities, then it will burn so rapidly that appreciable fusion

energy will be released before it can blow apart; it will be "confined" during

the fusion burn by its own inertia.

ThTefTort directeoToward the development of inertial confinement fusion

has grown to the point where it now rivals that of the more traditional

magnetic confinement fusion approach. But whereas there exist several excel-

lent texts on the physics of magnetic confinement fusion, the literature

concerned with inertial confinement fusion remains relatively diffuse. It there-

fore seems an appropriate time to attempt to pull together the many disciplines

involved in inertial confinement fusion research into an introductory text.

It is important to recognize that the relevant subject matter for inertial

confinement fusion differs quite significantly from that for magnetic confine-

ment fusion. In the latter field, the primary emphasis is on plasma physics and

electromagnetic theory. In contrast, any introduction to inertial confinement

fusion should include material concerned with the physics of inertially con-

fined thermonuclear fusion reactions, hydrodynamics and shock waves, trans-

port processes in dense plasmas, and the interaction of laser or charged particle

beams with plasmas. In addition, material of a more applied nature should be

vii
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viii

PREFACE

included such as laser and charged particle driver beam development, target

design and fabrication, experiment-diagnostic methods, and possible applica-

tions of the inertial confinement fusion process.

This text has resulted from our attempt over the past several years to

develop a course on this subject. It is aimed at advanced undergraduate or

graduate students in engineering and physics, as well as at practicing engineers

and scientists seeking an introduction to inertial confinement fusion. Only the

usual undergraduate background in mathematics and physics has been as-

sumed. Although some additional exposure to plasma physics would prove

useful to those intending to enter this field, it is not essential to understanding

most of the material presented in this text.

Very little of the material presented in such a broad treatment can claim

originality. We have drawn heavily from the technical literature in developing

material for this text. Although we have attempted to include a comprehensive

bibliography, the wide range and rapidly changing nature of the present

literature on inertial confinement fusion makes this a difficult task. Therefore

we have provided particular reference to a number of excellent review articles

on various aspects of this subject. Our effort has also benefited greatly from

the knowledge, experience, and assistance of a number of colleagues. Of

particular note is the influence of James Shearer and Ray Kidder (LLL); Eldon

Linnebur, Bill Varnum, Paul Rocket, and David Bach (LASL); Fred Mayer

(KMSF); Stephen Bodner (NRL); and Richard Osborn and Rudi Ong

(Michigan). We would also like to acknowledge the comments and suggestions

concerning the manuscript provided by Barry Ripin, John McMahon, David

Mosher, Shyke Goldstein, and Jerry Cooperstein (NRL); Mary Ann Sweeney

and Thomas Mehlhorn (Sandia); David Berwald (TRW); Thomas Sutton and

Shin Takeshita (Michigan); and Donald Kania (LASL). Finally, we express

our appreciation to Todd Spindler (Wisconsin) for his help on the references.

James J. Duderstadt

Gregory A. Moses

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Madison, Wisconsin

October 1981
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Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

1.1 Basic Concepts, 5

1.2 Historical Development, 17

1.3 Status, 20

1.4 Scope of the Text, 24

References, 24

Chapter 2 Inertially Confined Thermonuclear Fusion Reactions 29

2.1 Fusion Reaction Physics, 29

2.2 Thermonuclear Fusion Reaction Criteria, 34

2.3 A Simple Analysis of ICF Driver Requirements, 41

2.4 The Scenario for Inertial Confinement Fusion, 43

2.5 Target Gain Requirements, 47

2.6 Inertial Confinement Fusion Burn Physics, 51

References, 62

Chapter 3 The Physics of Hydrodynamic Compression 65

3.1 Plasma Hydrodynamics, 66

3.2 Shock Waves, 70

3.3 Spherically Convergent Shock Waves, 78

3.4 Isentropic Compression, 80

3.5 Shock Wave Propagation in Plasmas, 83

3.6 Hydrodynamic Stability of the Implosion Process, 85

3.7 Equations of State, 87

3.8 Ablation-Driven Compression, 94

References, 101

Chapter 4 Energy Transport in ICF Plasmas 103

4.1 Electron Thermal Conduction, 104

4.2 Suprathermal Electron Transport, 121

4.3 Radiation Transport, 124

References, 133

IX
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X

CONTENTS

Chapter 5 Driver Energy Deposition 136

5.1 Laser Light Absorption in Plasmas, 137

5.2 Relativistic Electron Beam Energy Deposition, 163

5.3 Ion Beam Energy Deposition, 166

References, 176

Chapter 6 Computer Simulation 180

6.1 Hydrodynamics Codes, 185

6.2 Particle Transport, 202

6.3 Plasma Simulation (Particle) Codes, 211

6.4 Concluding Remarks, 214

References, 216

Chapter 7 Driver Development I: Lasers 219

7.1 Laser Physics, 220

7.2 Present Laser Types, 237

7.3 Advanced Laser Development, 244

References, 250

Chapter 8 Driver Development II: Particle Beams 252

8.1 Pulsed Power Diode Accelerators, 254

8.2 Heavy Ion Beam Fusion, 269

References, 276

Chapter 9 Target Design, Fabrication, and Diagnostics 279

9.1 General Guidelines for Target Design, 281

9.2 Major Constraints on Target Design, 285

9.3 Specific Target Designs, 287

9.4 Target Diagnostics, 296

References, 301

Chapter 10 Applications 306

10.1 Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactors, 308

10.2 Reactor Cavity (Blast Chamber), 312

10.3 Other Aspects of ICF Reactor Designs, 322

10.4 Hybrid Fusion/Fission Systems, 333

10.5 Process Heat and Synthetic Fuel Production, 335

10.6 Propulsion, 337

References, 339

Index 343
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 Inertial

Confinement Fusion
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ONE

Introduction

As the limitations of the Earth's resources of conventional fuels have become

more apparent, scientists have turned their attention toward the stars for a new

source of energy. It has been known for several decades that nuclear fusion

reactions are a major energy source in stars. In this process the nuclei of light

elements are fused together at very high temperatures to produce more tightly

bound, heavier nuclei, releasing energy in the process.

An example of such a reaction is that which occurs when the two heavier

isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium (D) and tritium (T), combine to produce

helium plus a neutron. This fusion reaction releases 17.6 MeV of energy, which

is carried off as kinetic energy by the reaction products. The energy content of,

such fusion fuels is truly enormous. A thimbleful of deuterium would release as

much energy from fusion as the combustion of 20 tons of coal. The natural

deuterium contained in one liter of water would produce the fusion energy

equivalent of 300 liters of gasoline.

The potential of such reactions for generating large amounts of energy is

evident. We need only look at any star to see a massive example of fusion

energy release. In a sense, nuclear fusion can be regarded as the most primitive

form of solar power, since it is also the energy source of our sun. Hence it was

natural for scientists to wonder whether fusion might be employed as a

terrestrial energy source. The awesome potential of this quest was demon-

strated by the development of nuclear fusion weapons—the hydrogen bomb—

in the early 1950s. Since that time, proponents of fusion power have predicted

that someday this nuclear process would provide us with a safe, clean, and

abundant source of energy.1"7

But the difficulties involved in igniting and controlling a fusion reaction are

formidable. The light nuclei that must fuse together are positively charged and

strongly repel one another. To overcome this repulsion, we must slam the two

nuclei together at very high velocities. One way of doing this is to take a

l
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2

INTRODUCTION

<mixture of deuterium and tritium and heat it to such high temperatures that

the velocities of thermal motion of the nuclei are sufficient to overcome charge

repulsion and initiate the fusion reaction. Such a scheme is referred to as a

thermonuclear fusion reaction. The temperature required is quite high—roughly

100 million degrees (or 10 keV, where 1 keV corresponds to 1.16X107 K).

Until quite recently scientists had imitated the sun only in a rather violent

fashion by using a nuclear fission explosion to create temperatures high

enough to ignite the fusion reaction in the hydrogen bomb.

But simply heating the fusion fuel to enormous temperatures is not enough

to ignite the fusion reaction. For most of the time, when the nuclei run into

each other, they simply bounce off or scatter without fusing together. Indeed.

C^such scattering collisions are a million times more probable than fusion events.

So somehow we have to hold the high temperature fusion fuel together long

enough to allow the nuclei to collide the millions and millions of times

necessary to induce the fusion reactions.

Therefore to achieve thermonuclear fusion energy we must solve two prob-

lems: (1) produce and heat a plasma fuel to thermonuclear temperatures, and

(2) confine it long enough to produce more fusion energy than we have

expended in heating and containing the fuel. These twin requirements are

/ usually quantified by a mathematical relation known as the Lawson criterion,8

\ which essentially reflects the balance between thermonuclear energy produc-

\ tion and heating energy. This criterion can be expressed as a condition on the

product of the fuel density n and the time of fusion fuel containment t. If we

express n in units of number of nuclei per cm3 and t in seconds, then the

Lawson criterion demands that the product m exceed roughly 1014 s/cm3 for a

D-T fusion reaction (and 1016 s/cm3 for the D-D reaction).

But how are we to accomplish the twin goals of heating and confinement in

such a way as to satisfy the Lawson criterion? In a star the enormous mass

causes gravitational forces that confine the reacting fuel, compressing it and

heating it to the necessary temperatures. Certainly we cannot expect gravity to

do that job here on Earth.

In thermonuclear weapons no attempt is made to confine the reacting fuel.

Instead one attempts to heat the fuel to thermonuclear temperatures so fast

that an appreciable number of fusion reactions occur before it is blown apart

("explosively disassembles"). This scheme is known as inertial confinement.

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since it is the inertia of the reacting fuel that keeps it from blowing apart

prematurely. But to heat an appreciable mass of fuel to such high temperatures

requires an extremely large energy source, and the source used in thermo-

nuclear weapons is an explosive fission chain reaction. That is, an atomic

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bomb is used to heat the thermonuclear fuel to ignition temperatures. Again

this approach is highly unsuited for a controlled application.

The approach to fusion power that has been most extensively studied to date

works with far smaller quantities of thermonuclear fuel. In particular, it takes

advantage of the fact that at the high temperatures necessary for fusion to

\ occur, the fuel becomes an ionized or charged gas known as a plasma. Since
INTRODUCTION

such charged particles have difficulty moving across magnetic-field lines (in-

stead tending to spiral along them), the primary approach has been to design a

"magnetic bottle" composed of strong magnetic fields to contain the fuel.

Traditionally these magnetic confinement fusion schemes have worked with very

low fuel densities (~1014 cm-3) and have attempted to achieve confinement

times of the order of a second to satisfy the Lawson criterion. After two

decades of intensive research, magnetic confinement fusion has reached the

threshold of achieving the goal of scientific breakeven, in which the Lawson

criterion is satisfied and the fusion energy produced by the fuel exceeds the

energy necessary to heat and confine it.

Recently, however, scientists have become excited about an alternative

approach to controlled thermonuclear fusion based on inertial confinement.9"11

In this approach intense laser or charged particle beams would be used to

rapidly compress a tiny pellet of deuterium-tritium fuel to tremendous densi-

ties and temperatures and ignite a thermonuclear fusion reaction or burn. If

the fuel pellet is compressed to sufficient densities, then it will burn so rapidly

that appreciable fusion energy will be released before it can blow apart.

More precisely, the intense laser or charged particle beams (the "driver"

beams) would strike the pellet surface, ionizing this surface and ablating it off

into the vacuum surrounding the pellet (see Figure 1.1). As the outer surface of

the pellet blows away, an enormous pressure is generated (much as by a rocket

exhaust) that would compress the core of the fuel pellet to densities as high as

1000 to 10,000 times solid-state density. This compression would also raise the

temperature of the core of the pellet to fusion temperatures so that a thermo-

nuclear burn is ignited. This burn would then propagate outward through the

Figure 1.1. Implosion of an inertial confinement fusion target.

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4

INTRODUCTION

rest of the fuel pellet, igniting and burning it, to result in the explosive release

of fusion energy. The process of compression and thermonuclear ignition and

burn would occur in a time much shorter than the time required for the pellet

\lo blow apart (~10-9 s). Hence a premium is placed on developing driver

^ beams capable of delivering large quantities of energy onto tiny targets (1 to 10

mm in diameter) in a very short pulse (0.1 to 20 ns).

In a sense, the inertial confinement approach to controlled fusion represents

a scaling down of the hydrogen bomb over a millionfold to a tiny microexplo-

sion. For a brief instant, the driver beams compress or implode the fuel pellet

to produce conditions similar to those found in stars. A tiny sun is produced,

which bursts in an instant, releasing its fusion energy. If we can capture this

energy, then we can convert it to useful purposes.

Edward Teller12 has noted that inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is essen-

tially the internal combustion engine approach to fusion. To make the analogy

more precise, recall that the internal combustion engine of a car is based on a

four-stage combustion cycle (see Figure 1.2): (1) injection of fuel (gas and air)

into the cylinder, (2) compression of the fuel mixture by a piston, (3) ignition

of the compressed fuel by a spark plug, and (4) combustion of the fuel mixture

in a small explosion that drives the piston and hence the crankshaft (convert-

ing chemical energy into mechanical energy).

Inertial confinement fusion schemes are based on the following analogous

sequence: (1) a tiny pellet of deuterium-tritium isotopes is injected into a blast

chamber, (2) the pellet is compressed to very high density with intense laser or

\ charged particle beams, (3) the high density and compression heat induce the

ignition of a thermonuclear reaction, producing a microscopic thermonuclear

explosion, and (4) the thermonuclear energy carried by the reaction products,

including neutrons, X rays, and charged particles, is deposited as heat in a

blanket that then acts as a heat source in a steam thermal cycle to produce

electricity (conversion of nuclear energy into electric energy). The inertial

confinement fusion internal combustion engine would use a series of micro-

thermonuclear explosions (from 1 to 100 per second, each generating the

energy equivalent of several kilograms of high explosive) to generate power.

The applications of inertial confinement fusion fall into several categories:

power production,13 weapons applications, "- l4, 15 and fundamental physics

studies. Much of the funding for research activities in this area has been
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stimulated by the recognition that the environment created by the implosion

and thermonuclear burn of a tiny fuel pellet is similar in some respects to that

of a thermonuclear weapon. Hence there has been considerable interest in

using inertial confinement fusion targets to simulate weapons physics and

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effects on a microscopic scale.

Perhaps the most immediate application of inertial confinement fusion will

be in basic physics studies. The imploded fuel pellet produces conditions of

temperature and pressure that are quite unusual (at least on a terrestrial scale).

Inertial confinement fusion implosions can be used to study properties of

matter under extreme conditions, the interaction of intense radiation with

matter, and aspects of low energy nuclear physics. Indeed, inertial confinement
BASIC CONCEPTS

Fuel injection Compression Ignition Combustion

Figure 1.2. A comparison of internal combustion engines: the top sequence for a

gasoline engine of an automobile, the bottom sequence for an inertial confinement

fusion reactor.

fusion presents us with a unique opportunity to study certain aspects of

astrophysics such as stellar interiors on a laboratory scale.

But perhaps the most significant application of inertial confinement fusion

will be to the production of energy that can then be used for a variety of

purposes such as the generation of electricity, the production of process heat or

synthetic fuels, or propulsion. The importance of this application is apparent

when it is recognized that there are only three major inexhaustible energy

source options available to our civilization at the present time: the nuclear

fission breeder reactor, solar energy, and nuclear fusion.16,17 Serious social and

political questions threaten to stall breeder reactor development.18 Solar energy

faces major challenges of both a technical and economic nature.19 Hence the

importance of an aggressive nuclear fusion research effort appears evident.

Controlled thermonuclear fusion in general, and inertial confinement fusion

in particular, present us with a staggering technological challenge. But the

potential benefit of such an abundant energy source compels us to address this

challenge with a determined effort.

1.1. BASIC CONCEPTS

We have noted that the basic requirements of the fusion game involve heating

a plasma fuel (e.g., D-T) to thermonuclear temperatures (approximately 10

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6

INTRODUCTION

keV) and then confining this high temperature fuel for a sufficiently long time

that it produces more fusion energy than the energy invested in its heating and

confinement. The scoreboard for this game is the Lawson criterion,8 which

demands a certain minimum value of the product of number density n and

confinement time t—for example, the scientific feasibility criterion for a D-T

fuel is nt>1014 s/cm3. As we have also noted, the traditional approach to

fusion has been to attempt to confine a very low density plasma fuel (at

n~ 1014 cm-3) for a relatively long time (t~ 1 s) in a suitably shaped magnetic

field (e.g., toroidal fields such as in the Tokamak).

The inertial confinement fusion scheme takes the opposite approach. The

aim is to heat a dense fuel to thermonuclear temperatures extremely rapidly so

that an appreciable thermonuclear reaction energy will be produced before the

fuel blows itself apart. To see what we are up against, consider a small pellet of

radius 1 mm. The "disassembly time" Trf required for the heated pellet to blow-

itself apart is roughly the time required for a sound wave to traverse the pellet.

Since the speed of sound in a 10-keV D-T plasma is roughly 10R cm/s, the

disassembly time Trf~0.1/10B= I0 ,= 1 ns. Hence to satisfy the Lawson

criterion, we must use a fuel density in excess of n~ 1014/t(/~ 1023 cm-3 which

is roughly liquid-state density.

Therefore the new game we must play in inertial confinement fusion is to

heat a small, liquid-density D-T pellet to thermonuclear temperatures before it

' has a chance to expand—that is, in 1 ns. Actually the energy required is not

too great—roughly 1 MJ or about 0.28 kWh—about the energy consumption

A in one evening's operation of a television set. But when this energy is delivered

/ in 10"9 second, it corresponds to a power level of 106/10"9= 1015 W. The

staggering demands of such a power level become apparent when it is noted

that the present electrical generating capacity of all the power plants in the

United States is somewhat under 1012 W.

</ Hence we are faced with the task of generating enormous powers and

focusing these down on a tiny pellet, roughly 1 mm in radius. But this is what a

laser is very good at doing. For not only can a laser focus large amounts of

energy onto very tiny spots, but it can also zap this energy in a very short time

—easily within 1 ns (indeed, laser pulses as short as 10 12 s have been

achieved).

So if we use the laser just like a very big flashlight to zap the fuel pellet to
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fusion temperatures very rapidly, we can visualize that a laser fusion system

might work something like that shown in Figure 1.3. The laser light is focused

on the pellet, heating it rapidly to thermonuclear temperatures and thereby

inducing a thermonuclear fusion microexplosion. The energy from this explo-

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sion is then captured and converted to electricity through a steam thermal

cycle. After using part of this energy to reenergize the laser, the remaining

energy is then distributed to the electrical power grid.

So far, so good! And this was essentially the "public image" presented by

the inertial confinement fusion effort in the B.D.C. (before declassification)

days prior to 1972. But this simple-minded scheme had a fatal flaw, which
BASIC CONCEPTS

Figure 13. A simple schematic of an inertial confinement fusion reactor.

became apparent when one tried to estimate the laser energy required to

produce such a microexplosion.

Suppose (because of laser and thermal cycle inefficiencies) we require the

thermonuclear energy produced by the pellet to be M times the incident laser

aenergy_Suppose further that only a fraction eD of the incident driver energy

can be coupled into the target. Then we can factor these expressions into the

Lawson criterion (in a manner that will be made more explicit in Chapter 2) to

arrive at an estimate of the required laser energy for inertial confinement

fusion as21

where nL is the number density for liquid D-T (4.5X 1022 cm"3). Let us now

apply this estimate to calculate the laser energy required for scientific feasibil-

ity, that is, for M— 1. If we take eD= \ and n = nL, we find a laser energy

requirement of 1 MJ= 106 J.Jfo place this number in perspective, the largest

laser in the world today, the Shiva-Nova laser at the Lawrence Livermore

Laboratory, produces a pulse of only 100 kJ—a factor 10 times too small. For

a reactor, we would have to require M —10 (at least) which would imply a

hopelessly large laser energy of 109 J. Viewed in this light, laser fusion is

clearly a fool's quest.

Or is it? We mentioned that this was the "naive" or B.D.C. approach. We

must be a bit more sophisticated in our analysis. Let us begin by reexamining

the criterion for achieving net fusion energy release in a somewhat different

light. We can identify two times of major significance for inertial confinement

fusion schemes: the disassembly tjme^which scales as

disassembly time=Tt/

and the thermonuclear burn time

burn time= rh = — (va)

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8

INTRODUCTION

Here R is the pellet radius, p is its mass density, m is the ion mass, cs is the

speed of sound, s> js the relative speed, pfthe collidin& nuc.lei, and o' is the

fusion reaction cross section.

If we regard rh as a measure of the time required to burn a fuel pellet of

density p, and rd as the time during which the thermonuclear reaction will

occur, then we can define a "thermonuclear burn efficiency" as just the ratio of

these two times22:

The quantity ((va)/mcs) is essentially constant in the temperature range of

interest (20 to 80 keV). Hence we find that the thermonuclear burn efficiency

scales as the product of fuel density and radius, pR. If we insert the ap-

propriate numerical constants, we find an alternative to the Lawson criterion

that is far more appropriate for inertial confinementfusion schemes/Thjs new

criterion becomes --^

(Actually, if we are a bit more carefut^ndtake into account fuel depletion,

we find that the burn efficiency becomes

Hence for pR = 3, roughly one third of the pellet fuel would be burned.)

i To understand the implications of this result, note that for a 1-mm pellet,

pR — 1 implies a fuel density of p= 10 g/cm3. But since the liquid density of

D-T is only pz =0.2 g/cm3, we find that this implies a compression of the fuel

pellet to at least 50 times its initial density. Hence the key to inertial

confinement fusion is apparently high compression.

More generally, if we note that p scales with fuel radius as /J-3 (for fixed

fuel mass), we find that the thermonuclear burn efficiency scales as pR~R"2.

The more we compress the fuel, the larger pR becomes, and the more efficient

the thermonuclear brnTTBecomes. For example, a compression of 1000 would

reduce the requirements for scientific breakeven to only 1 J and those for a

reactor to 1000 J. Actually, these simple scaling arguments are still too naive

since they predict breakeven requirements several orders of magnitude below

those suggested by more complex models (which tend to cluster about 1 MJ).

However, they do illustrate the strong dependence of the required driver beam

energy on the compression factor.

The only remaining question, then, is "how." How do we achieve such

tremendous compressions? Certainly not by normal mechanical forces. Nor

will chemical explosives do the job (since they are limited to compressions of

roughly 10 by the strength of interatomic forces). Densities as large as 1000

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thermonuclear burn efficiency — eh — —

pR
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BASIC CONCEPTS

times liquid-state density are not common even on an astronomical scale,

occurring only in very dense white dwarf stars.

The trick involves using the driver beams themselves.24"28 Suppose we can

focus a number of beams of intense laser light onto the fuel pellet surface (see

Figure 1.4). As the pellet absorbs this intense light energy, its surface is rapidly

vaporized, ionized, and heated to high temperature, blowing off into the

vacuum surrounding the pellet. This blowoff or ablation of the pellet surface

drives a shock wave back into the pellet (recall Newton's third law—or better

yet, imagine the ablation as you would the thrust from a rocket exhaust). As

this shock wave implodes in toward the center of the pellet, it compresses the

fuel in a small central region to high density and thermonuclear temperatures

so that ignition occurs. At these very high densities (large pR), the energetic

alpha particles produced in the D-T fusion reactions -are absorbed in this

cejitraWegion spark." heating it to still higher temperatures and causing the

fuel to burn even more rapidly. As the central spark burns, alpha particles are

deposited in the adjacent fuel, bringing it to ignition temperatures. This

process continues, leading to a thermonuclear burn wave that propagates

outward into the cold, compressed fuel surrounding the ignited pellet core,

consuming the fuel in a very rapid thermonuclear microexplosion. After only a

few picoseconds a significant fraction of the imploded pellet fuel has burned,

and the very high energy release blows the pellet apart, thereby terminating the

reaction.

Hence the key idea is to use the laser beam to bring the central region of the

pellet to ignition densities and temperatures, but in such a way that the rest of

INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION CONCEPT |g

Atmosphere Formation Compression Ignition Bum

Later or particle beams Fuel is compressed by With the final driver pulse, the Thermonuclear

rapidly heat the surface rocket like blowoff of full core reaches 1000 - 10.000 times bum spreads

of the fusion target the surface material. liquid density and ignites at rapidly through the

forming e surrounding 100,000,000°C. compressed fuel, yielding

plasma envelope. many times the driver

input energy.

Figure 1.4. The scenario for the implosion of an inertial confinement fusion target.

(Courtesy of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.)

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10

INTRODUCTION

thp rnmpres«ifH fi»>i r^mninr nnU (s0 that the required compression energy is

minimized). That is, one wishes to isentropically compress the fuel. Only a

central spark is produced in the compressed fuel to light the fusion fire. In this

way, one lowers the laser energy requirements to roughly 10,000 to 100,000 J.

This simple picture is complicated somewhat by the fact that laser light

|cannot penetrate very far into a very dense plasma without bein& reflectecLIn

fact, if the plasma density is above 1021 cm-3, the incident laser light (from the

Nd glass lasers commonly used in some inertial confinement fusion experi-

ments) will not penetrate. Hence during the actual laser irradiation, a low

density cloud or atmosphere ablates off and surrounds the pellet core, shield-

ing it from direct laser radiation. The laser energy absorbed in this atmosphere

or corona is then transported into the denser regions of the pellet by processes

such as electron thermal conduction to drive the imploding shock wave.

The general features of the pellet implosion scheme were first confirmed in

laboratory experiments performed in 1974.29 Laser beams were focused by

specially shaped mirrors onto the surface of tiny pellets consisting of glass

shells (from 50 to 100 /im in diameter and 1 to 5 in thickness) containing

D-T gas up to 100 atm in pressure. Such glass microballoons were imploded to

densities roughly 100 times that of the initial fill gas, and the first thermo-

nuclear neutrons were detected. Subsequent targets utilizing multiple layers of

materials to provide for the efficient absorption of incident light and energy

transfer have led to still higher implosion densities and neutron yields.

However, the success of such implosion experiments should not be interpre-

ted as a demonstration of the scientific feasibility of the inertial confinement

fusion scheme. Even the most advanced experiments have demonstrated a

target energy gain (the ratio of fusion energy produced to driver beam energy)

of only 10-4 to 10-3. The high gains required for most applications (roughly

100) will require highly efficient implosions in which driver beam absorption

and energy transfer are maximized, the compression process is nearly isen-

tropic, and thejueljs compressed to 103 to 104 times liquid density_jio_lhat

only a small core region need be ignited to trigger burn propagation to the

remainder of the pellet. Present estimates are that the achievement of break-

even gain (corresponding to pR~0.3 to 1 g/cm2) will require drivers in the 100

to 500 TW range. An inertial confinement fusion reactor faces even more

severe requirements (pR~3 to 5 g/cm2) corresponding to drivers in the 1 to

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10 MJ, 1000 TW level.

These target gain requirements present a very difficult challenge for the

design of inertial confinement fusion drivers. Four classes of drivers have been

considered to date: lasers, relativistic electron beams, light ion beams, and
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heavy ion beams.

Laser drivers typically consist of a source or oscillator that feeds light into a

number of trains or beamlines of successively more powerful laser amplifiers

(see Figure 1.5). Large laser systems may consist of dozens of these beamlines

and hundreds of amplifiers.

i
BASIC CONCEPTS

It

Figure 1.5. Configuration of a large laser driver.

Most high energy laser facilities designed for laser fusion research utilize

large Nd glass lasers that emit infrared light at a wavelength of 1.06 /im.30 To

date these lasers have been restricted by glass damage considerations to

energies less than 100 J per beam. Several laboratories in the United States and

abroad have Nd laser systems operating or under development that approach

10 TW or greater in power level. Since these lasers must be pumped using

flashlamp techniques, they are intrinsically very inefficient (less than 0.25%)

and therefore would not be suitable for reactor applications. However the

advanced state of Nd laser development has led to the extensive use of this

driver type in inertial confinement fusion research.

To achieve the high efficiencies and power levels required by reactor

applications, it will probably be necessary to use gas lasers. For example, COz

lasers have been operated at efficiencies of several percent at high power

levels.31 Furthermore, pulsed CO2 laser technology appears capable of achiev-

ing the necessary power levels at efficiencies of 8 to 10% and repetition rates of

10 to 100 shots per second. Unfortunately, the long-wavelength light emitted

by CO2 lasers (10.6 /im) may not couple effectively to drive the pellet

implosion.

An advanced gas laser design based on a krypton-fluorine mixture appears

capable of high power, high efficiency (4 to 7%) operation at a shorter

wavelength (0.2 /im) that should improve beam-target coupling. However the

very early nature of KrF laser development and the lack of target interaction

experiments at this wavelength (aside from some early experiments using

frequency-quadrupled Nd laser light at 0.26 /im) make any major commitment

to this driver type somewhat premature at this point.

Another gas laser that shows promise is the hydrogen fluorine chemical

laser. The HF laser has a broad band of wavelengths between 2.6 and 3.4 fim.
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12

INTRODUCTION

This broad band characteristic may possibly ameliorate the problem of plasma

instabilities leading to hot electron generation. The HF laser, because it is

driven by chemical processes, has an electrical efficiency that can exceed 100%.

However, when the energy required to reprocess the spent lasing gas is

included the net efficiency is expected to be about 5%.

The projected laser driver requirements for both breakeven experiments and

reactor applications are given in Table 1.1. These goals are compared with both

present and projected capabilities of several major laser types. It should be

apparent from this comparison that the development of suitable laser drivers

for inertial confinement fusion applications is a matter of considerable uncer-

tainty.

There are several alternatives to using high-powered lasers as the "pistons"

to drive the pellet implosion. Charged particle acceleration is an attractive

technology because high energy electron or ion beams can be efficiently

produced, possibly at high repetition rate. If short pulses of such beams can be

focused onto tiny ICF fuel pellets, they should be able to deposit energy quite

effectively to drive the implosion process.

Early charged particle drivers used pulsed diodes to produce relativistic

electron beams.32-33 These accelerators basically consist of a high voltage

source that stores energy in capacitor banks and then rapidly switches this

electrical energy into an insulated pulse-forming line and thence into a diode.

Electrons are accelerated to the anode from a dense plasma that forms on the

cathode surface. These electrons can then be passed through a foil and focused

onto a target. Such relativistic electron beams have been used to implode

fusion targets both in the United States and the Soviet Union.

However, early experiments indicated that such high energy electrons couple

very inefficiently to the target. The range of relativistic electrons is too large to

create adequate ablation pressure. Furthermore, the relativistic electrons pro-

duce hard X rays through breamsstrahlung that can penetrate into the target

Table 1.1. A Comparison of Projected Requirements Versus Actual

Capabilities of Various Laser Drivers

. , Present Capabilities

Projected

Requirements

Nd
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co2

KrF

Energy
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300 to 500 J

30 kJ

20 kJ

2kJ

100 J

3 to 10 MJ (reactor)

Focal spot size

1 mm

100 urn

100/im

100 /im

100/im

Pulse length

0.1 to 10 ns

0.1 to 1 ns

1 ns

1 ns

1 ns

Repetition rate

1 to 10 Hz

10 3 Hz

1 to 10 Hz

10 3 Hz

10 'Hz

Laser efficiency

10*

0.2%

5%

o.\%
BASIC CONCEPTS

13

core, preheating the fuel. It is also difficult to focus electron beams on a target

located at some standoff distance from the diode. The small mass of the

electrons leads to strong space charge effects that tend to prevent the tight

focusing necessary for high beam intensity on target.

Therefore in recent years the polarity of pulsed diode accelerators has been

reversed so that they can be used to produce instead beams of high energy

(1 to 10 MeV) light ions (ranging from protons to carbon ions).34,35 Such light

ion beams couple relatively strongly to the target. Their much larger mass

overcomes many of the focusing difficulties caused by space charge effects in

relativistic electron beams. Furthermore, pulsed power accelerators appear to

be capable of scaling at modest cost to the high power levels and potentially

high efficiencies (20 to 30%) required for inertial confinement fusion applica-

tions. The major uncertainties in such light ion beam drivers involve beam

transport and power concentration on the target.

The coupling of light ion beams to the target is certain to be nearly 100%

efficient. However, this may still be insufficient to achieve high target gains.

Furthermore, space charge and self-generated magnetic fields can still cause

focusing problems. Hence recent interest has been directed at developing heavy

ion beam accelerators based on RF or induction linear accelerators and storage

rings.36 Beams of heavy ions (Xe to U ions) with energies as large as 10 GeV

can be focused very easily because their large mass (inertia) overcomes space

charge repulsion. Heavy ion beams should be absorbed quite effectively by the

target. The large energy of the heavy ions (in the GeV range) would permit the

necessary power to be delivered to the target at much lower beam currents than

those that characterize light ion beam drivers. Furthermore, the technology of

high energy accelerators is quite highly developed, although experience with

producing high beam currents of very heavy ions is essentially nonexistent. As

with pulsed diode accelerators, present technology seems capable of scaling to

the requisite power levels, efficiencies, and pulse rates. The major uncertainties

involve beam transport and focusing. Furthermore, the large size and high cost

of heavy ion accelerators have prevented the performance of target experi-

ments in the absence of a major funding commitment. This stands in sharp

contrast to light ion beam accelerators, which can be built relatively inexpen-

sively. We have compared several of the advantages and disadvantages of

various inertial confinement fusion driver types in Table 1.2.

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The key concept in these inertial confinement fusion schemes is to use the

driver (whether laser or charged particle beam) to ablate off the surface of the

fuel pellet, thereby driving a rocketlike implosion of the fuel to high density.

However, we will demonstrate in the next chapter that even with strong
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coupling of the beam to the target, most (90%) of the incident energy goes intq 1

the thermal and kinetic energy of the ablated material rather than the com-

pressed fuel."

Hence there has been some interest in alternative inertial confinement fusion

schemes that avoid the surface ablation process. One such scheme involves the

use of hypervelocity particles as the "drivers" to produce high compressions.37

14

INTRODUCTION

Table 1.2.

A Comparison of Advantages and Disadvantages of Various

Inertial Confinement Fusion Driver Types

Driver Type

Advantages

Disadvantages

Lasers

Very high intensity

Focusable to small spot size

Advanced technology

Versatile pulse length,

frequency doubling

Low energy per pulse

Inefficient

Hot electron generation

Energy absorption

efficiency

Light ions

Large energy per pulse

Classical deposition in

matter

Low intensity

Uncertain focusability

Uncertain beam propaga-

tion at required current

No hot electrons

Uses existing technology

High efficiency

Inexpensive—can be made

small

Heavy ions

Classical energy deposition

Low current beams com-

pared to light ions

High efficiency
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High repetition rate

Large energy per pulse

Very costly—unlikely to be

small system
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Uncertain focusing and

beam transport

Transport requires hard

vacuum

In such an approach, macroscopically-sized projectiles (typically several milli-

grams in size) would be accelerated to velocities of 100 to 300 km/s (perhaps

by laser-driven ablation) and then allowed to collide with one another or on a

target block in a reactor chamber to produce the densities and temperatures

necessary for a thermonuclear fusion reaction.

A different approach involves a hybrid inertial/magnetic_confinement

scheme known as the imploding liner.38 -19 The general scheme is to discharge a

very large current through a thin metal cylinder, liner, or array of wires

(roughly 0.2 m initial radius, 3 mm initial thickness, and 0.2 m in length). The

self-magnetic fields resulting from the current implode the liner at high

velocities (~ 104 m/s) onto a 0.5-keV, 10"1 cm-3 D-T plasma that is initially

formed or injected into the liner. As the liner implodes (in 20 to 40 /is),

adiabatic compression raises the plasma to thermonuclear burn temperatures.

During the implosion and subsequent burn, the fuel is confined inertially by

the metal liner and endplug walls. The embedded magnetic field acts as an

insulator against radial and axial thermal conduction. Between implosions the

liner and several meters of adjacent electrical leads are replaced.

Many questions surround the imploding liner concept. The hydrodynamic

stability of the liner implosion is one. Furthermore, there is a large impedance

mismatch between the liner and the power source input line. Finally, the
BASIC CONCEPTS

15

development of a refueling scheme in which both the liner and electrical leads

could be rapidly replaced after every shot is a difficult challenge.

Let us set aside for the moment the question of driver type and turn to a

consideration of how such thermonuclear microexplosions can be used to

produce useful energy in some kind of reactor device. In a typical design the

pellet implosion might be assumed to yield some 108 J (about 20 kg of high

explosive worth of energy). If such explosions are repeated 30 times per

second, then such a reactor would yield 3000 MW of thermal power corre-

sponding to a steam thermal cycle electricity output of 1000 MW.40"42

The thermonuclear explosion energy appears as various types of radiation

emitted from the exploding pellet. Typically the energy will appear as fast 14

MeV neutrons, energetic charged particles, and X rays. Surprisingly enough, it

is relatively easy to design a blast chamber that can withstand the force of such

a blast. The principal concern is the damage that the incident radiation can do

to the chamber wall. However, by careful design—for example, by shielding

the wall surface with a flowing liquid lithium curtain to absorb the X rays and

charged particle debris—it should be possible to design a blast chamber to

contain such pellet microexplosions.

Most of the explosion energy would be carried by fast neutrons, and

therefore the blast chamber would be surrounded by a blanket, such as lithium,

designed to absorb the neutron energy (and produce tritium for further

refueling as well). This blanket could then be cooled using conventional

techniques, and the heat withdrawn by a coolant would be used to produce

steam for a turbine-generator. (See Figure 1.6.)

Inertial confinement fusion reactors can be contrasted with magnetic fusion

systems in several important respects. First, the pulsed repetitive nature of the

radiation from the microexplosions produces radiation environments and

cyclic stresses that place particularly severe requirements on first-wall and

blanket designs. However, balanced against this is the advantage that the

driver is decoupled from the reactor environment. Furthermore, fusion cham-

ber vacuum requirements are much less demanding in inertial confinement

fusion systems, thereby allowing the use of liquid metals and/or buffer gases

in first-wall protection schemes.

Two of the most important parameters influencing reactor designs are driver

efficiency and target gain. These parameters are strongly coupled when appli-
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cations of inertial confinement fusion to electric power generation are consid-

ered. For example, the 2 to 5% efficiency anticipated with short wavelength

laser drivers such as the KrF laser would require very large target gains of 200

to 500. More efficient drivers such as light or heavy ion beams (10 to 50%)
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would reduce target gain requirements considerably to 20 to 100."

Since inertial confinement fusion systems should be capable of producing

large quantities of neutrons, it has been suggested that alternative uses of these

devices may be of interest. (See Figure 1.7). The neutrons might be used to

convert fertile material (e.g., uranium-238 or thorium-232) into fissile material

(plutonium or uranium-233).43 46 Or perhaps the neutrons could be used to

16

INTRODUCTION

transmute long-lived radioactive waste (actinides) into shorter-lived or stable

isotopes.47 Yet another application would be to use the neutrons to radiolyti-

cally decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen, and then use the hydrogen

in chemical processes to produce methane that can supplement our vanishing

natural gas reserves.48-49

Whatever the application, it should be evident that the successful develop-

ment of a viable inertial confinement fusion reactor is still many years down

Energy

Neutrons

Electric power production

Process heat production

Propulsion applications

Synthetic fuel production

Fissile fuel production

Tritium production

Radioisotope production

Energy and

neutrons

(fusion fission

hybrids)

Electric power production

Fissile fuel production

Burning of actinide wastes

Figure 1.7. Various applications of inertial confinement fusion. (Courtesy of the

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.)

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

17

the road. Indeed, we are still several years away from the demonstration of

scientific feasibility (just as we are with magnetic confinement fusion ap-

proaches). But the promise of this particular approach for controlled thermo-

nuclear fusion cannot be denied. The potential of inertial confinement fusion

demands that we direct a major effort toward its development as a future

energy source.

1.2 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

The roots of inertial confinement fusion might be traced back to Bethe,s

recognition in 1931 that nuclear fusion was a primary energy source in stars, or

perhaps to the development of the basic theory of thermonuclear fusion

reactions by Teller, Fermi, Tuck, and others at Los Alamos during the 1940s.51

Actually, the foundation for inertial confinement fusion was laid many years

earlier by the hydrodynamic analysis of spherical bubble implosions (cavita-

tion) by Besant in 1859 and Rayleigh in 1917.52 Of particular interest was a

self-similar solution to the problem of an imploding shock wave given by

Guderley53 in 1942. These ideas were applied to the design of nuclear fission

weapons by Neddemeyer, Von Neumann, Teller, Tuck, Christy, and others at

Los Alamos during the days of the Manhattan Project.54 Moderately high

compressions were achieved by using high explosives to drive spherical implo-

sions. However, as we will demonstrate later, the maximum compressions that

could be achieved using chemical explosives fall far short of those needed for

inertial confinement fusion microexplosions.

As early as 1961 a Livermore scientist, John Nuckolls, realized that the

powerful light beam of a pulsed laser could be used to achieve the energy

densities necessary to produce very high compressions.55 His early calculations

(based on the laser pellet coupling physics developed by Ray Kidder56,57 and

Sterling Colgate) suggested that carefully tailored laser light pulses could

produce ablatively driven implosions of D-T pellets to compressions as high as

10.000 times liquid-state density. Similar calculations were performed by

others during the mid-1960s, including Kidder and Zabawski at Livermore,

Dawson58 at Princeton, Lubin at Rochester, Hertzberg, Daiber, and Wittcliff59

at the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, Brueckner at the University of Cali-

fornia, and Tuck and others at Los Alamos.

The calculations of Nuckolls and Kidder led to the initiation of a classified

experimental laser fusion program at Livermore in 1963. By the mid-1960s

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Kidder and Mead had constructed a 12-beam ruby laser system to test the

implosion calculations. During the late 1960s the development of high-powered

neodymium glass lasers by the French and the rapid progress in CO2 laser

development by the Department of Defense accelerated the interest in laser

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fusion.

Experimental and theoretical analyses of laser-driven fusion continued to

appear, both within the classified weapons program and the open literature. Of

particular note were the activities of Lubin60-61 at Rochester, Haught

INTRODUCTION

et al.62 64 at United Aircraft, Basov et al.65-71 at the Lebedev Institute, Bobin

et al.72 at Limeil, Caruso73,74 in Italy, Witkowski et al.75 in Germany, and

Yamanaka et al.76 in Japan. The Russian group reported the first indication of

laser-produced fusion temperatures and neutrons in 1968.77 Nuckolls and his

colleagues continued to develop the theory of laser-driven implosions under the

cloak of security classification at Livermore. These calculations suggested that

adiabatic implosions might yield scientific breakeven at 1000 J of absorbed

laser energy.

In 1972 the first major declassification of the implosion scheme occurred.

Stimulated by references in the Russian literature suggesting inertial confine-

ment fusion implosions to super high densities, Brueckner21 at KMS Fusion.

Nuckolls24 and colleagues at Livermore, and Clark et al.27 at Los Alamos

simultaneously presented papers detailing the concept of using ablatively

driven compression to produce implosions to superhigh density in D-T pellets.

The first major experimental results involved the implosion of a 100-micron-

diameter CD2 microsphere with a few-hundred-joule, nine-beam laser system

by Basov,s group at the Lebedev Institute.70 This experiment yielded roughly

3X 106 neutrons.

A second major milestone was reached in 1974 when KMS Fusion irradiated

D-T-gas-filled glass microballoon targets using a two-beam laser system capa-

ble of 200 J in 100 ps and achieved detectable thermonuclear burn at

compressions of roughly 100 times the gas-fill density.29,78 The 104 neutrons

produced in these experiments were verified to be of fusion origin.79 Although

only a few hundred ergs of energy were released in these implosions, a Lawson

number of roughly 2X1012 and a D-T fuel temperature of 1 keV were

achieved. By late 1974 KMS scientists were routinely producing pellet implo-

sions yielding 106 to 107 neutrons per shot. In December of that year,

Livermore began similar experiments on their JANUS laser system using a

single beam at a power level of 0.2 TW. Subsequent experiments on the

2-beam, 0.4-TW JANUS system increased neutron yields by several orders of

magnitude during 1975.80 The 4-TW, 2-beam ARGUS laser system increased

neutron yields to 109 to 101° and ion temperatures to 10 keV by early 1976.

These early experiments were performed with D-T gas-filled glass microbal-

loons which behaved in an exploding pusher mode. That is, the glass shell was

heated and exploded by electron thermal conduction from the laser-heated

plasma surrounding the target. The inward-moving shell or pusher acted as a

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piston which compressed the D-T gas to nearly the original pusher density

(1 g/cm3) and produced high ion temperatures. However it rapidly became

apparent that this type of target could never achieve the fusion energy gains

needed for breakeven performance. Rather, the experiments would have to be

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redirected toward laser pulses and targets suited to the isentropic compression

required for very high fuel compressions.

In 1976 the first experiments were begun on the ARGUS system at Liver-

more with impulsively driven targets in order to produce high fuel density

(although at low fuel temperatures).81 By 1978 with ARGUS operating at 2 kJ

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

19

Livermore had achieved 10 times liquid density, and by 1979 had announced

compressions as high as 100 using the 10-kJ SHIVA laser system. The fuel

temperatures in these fuel compressions were kept low (approximately 0.5 keV)

to maximize fuel compression and provide only sufficient numbers of thermo-

nuclear reactions for diagnostic purposes.82"85

The CO2 laser program at Los Alamos followed a parallel track of success.

By early 1977 implosions to fusion conditions were achieved using the 0.2-TW,

two-beam GEMINI laser system. In 1978 the 10-kJ HELIOS system came on

line, and experiments with impulsively driven targets were begun. Compres-

sions as high as 30 have been reported to date.86"88

Although the first attempts to demonstrate inertial confinement fusion

utilized high-powered lasers, interest in electron and ion beam drivers grew

rapidly during the 1970s. The Russian electron beam fusion effort under

Rudakov produced thermonuclear neutrons in 1976. A variety of electron and

ion beam experiments were conducted at Sandia Laboratory during the late

1970s using the Proto I and Proto II pulsed diode accelerators. The presence of

fusion neutrons was detected in these experiments.32-33,34 The large Particle

Beam Fusion Accelerator (PBFA-1) went into operation in 1980 at the 30-TW

level.

During this same time period significant work was also underway at the

Naval Research Laboratory in both the laser and light ion approaches to ICF.

The very important laser-plasma coupling problem was studied with the two

beam PHAROS Nd laser. Thin foils were accelerated using long laser pulses in

the first experimental attempt at truly ablative acceleration. In the ion beam

area, pioneering work was done in the analysis and eventual explanation of

electron and ion diode behavior. Intense beams of light ions were produced

and focused into plasma channels where they were propagated for over a meter

in length.

A significant theoretical effort directed at heavy ion beam fusion was begun

at a number of laboratories during the late 1970s, including the Lawrence

Berkeley Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and Brookhaven National

Table 1.3. The Parameters Characterizing Ignition of an

Inertial Confinement Fusion Target

Definition of ignition requirements: thermonuclear energy

deposited in fuel exceeds initial fuel thermal energy

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Typical Parameters

D-T density ~ 1000 X liquid density

pR >0.3 g/cm2

(it >10l4cm 5s
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Temperature 5 keV — 10 keV (bootstrapping)

Burn efficiency > 1 %

DTgain ~5

Target gain ~0.1

20

INTRODUCTION

Laboratory. A variety of approaches were studied that aimed at extrapolating

existing high energy physics accelerator technology to the high beam intensities

necessary for inertial confinement fusion driver applications.

A number of large laser and particle beam systems are now coming on line,

both in the United States and elsewhere. Livermore, Los Alamos, and the

University of Rochester have under development large laser systems at the 50

to 100 TW level (NOVA, ANTARES, and OMEGA). The Sandia Laboratory

plans an upgrade of the PBFA machine (PBFA-II) to the 100-TW level by the

mid-1980s. And the Soviet Union is continuing its electron beam fusion effort

using the Angara 5 accelerator.90

The next step in the experimental programs is to achieve greater than 1000

times liquid density compressions coupled with the production of fusion

temperatures to initiate thermonuclear burn (see Table 1.3). Scientific break-

even experiments are projected for the middle to late 1980s at several laborato-

ries.

1.3. STATUS

The inertial confinement fusion effort has evolved to the point that many

laboratories, both in the United States and abroad, are now conducting

vigorous research programs using a variety of driver and target designs.91"93

During the late 1970s a number of laboratories imploded D-T targets to high

density using lasers or particle beam drivers operating in the several kJ, TW

range. Most of these early implosion experiments used exploding pusher

targets based on simple glass microballoons filled with D-T gas at high

pressure. These targets have the advantage that they can yield relatively large

numbers of neutrons (because of the high ion temperatures produced in the

nonadiabatic implosion) with moderate scale drivers.

Unfortunately, exploding pusher target experiments do not address the

primary technical questions of high compression implosions necessary for

appreciable gain. (See Figure 1.8). Although thermonuclear ignition could be

obtained with a sufficiently large exploding pusher target, the energy required

to drive such a target is beyond the capabilities of any projected driver. Thus

later experiments have turned instead to ablative targets in which the fuel is

compressed to high density at relatively low temperatures (adiabatic compres-

sion). This requires careful driver pulse shaping, minimizing fuel preheat, and

high symmetry implosions.

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Four laboratories in the United States (Livermore, Los Alamos, KMS

Fusion, and the University of Rochester) have performed laser-driven high

density implosion experiments achieving compressions of from 1 to 100 times

liquid D-T density (0.2 g/cm3). These measurements are compared in Figure
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1.9. Both the KMS Fusion and Rochester experiments were performed with

modest energy (100 J or less), but took great care to achieve spherically

symmetrical target illumination. The KMS Fusion experiments used glass

microballoon targets filled with D-T gas that was then solidified into a thin
STATUS 21

101 10 100 1000

Beam power (TW)

Figure 1.8. Target gains (both observed and projected) for exploding pusher and

ablative designs. (After Brueckner, Ref. 93.)

shell using cryogenic methods. Compressions of up to 35 times liquid density

have been achieved. Rochester also used glass microballoons as targets with

their four-beam DELTA laser system to obtain compressions of several times

liquid density. Compressions of as high as 100 have been achieved with targets

of a classified design using the SHIVA laser at Livermore. At Los Alamos

results have been achieved by irradiation of plastic-coated glass microballoons

using the eight-beam HELIOS CO2 laser system operating at 2300 J (1-ns pulse

width).

Such experiments demonstrate that spherically symmetrical implosions to

high density can be achieved, and provide some confidence for future experi-

ments on larger 100-TW laser systems designed to initiate thermonuclear burn

(NOVA and ANTARES). On a longer time scale, several laser systems are

being proposed for the 300 to 500 TW level felt to be necessary to achieve

scientific breakeven by the middle to late 1980s. Based on these experiments,

more detailed plans can be made for the high gain experiments necessary for

reactor applications.92-93

The laser fusion experiments of the 1970s achieved significant milestones.

They demonstrated that high fuel compressions (50 to 100 times liquid density)

and high implosion velocities can be achieved. They were able to exhaustively

study the physics of a simple target design, the exploding pusher (D-T-filled

glass microballoons). Unfortunately, these experiments also uncovered some

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22

INTRODUCTION

1000 p r-

100

I 10

3.

0.1

T I 1 I I I II

LASL

i KMS

Ablative compression

LLE

LLLt (ARGUS)\9tv.

Exploding pusher

KMS

LASL

LASL

LLL (ARGUS)

-J i I I i I 111

2 4 6 8 1 10

Peak fuel temperature (keV)

LLL (SHIVA) ^s |

' "I ' I I i i I I

100

Figure 1.9. A comparison of target compressions. (After Ref. 91.)

serious problems in the area of coupling laser beam energy into the target. In

particular, they found that at the high intensities required for laser fusion

applications, a significant fraction of the incident light energy is coupled into

high energy electrons. These fast electrons not only degrade target performance

by preheating the fuel core, but also greatly complicate the theoretical analysis

and understanding of the pellet implosion process. Other problems have

included stimulated scattering of the incident beam, the hydrodynamic stabil-

ity of pellet implosions, and a variety of problems in laser development.

Although it appears that many of these problems are mitigated at shorter laser

wavelengths (such as would characterize the KrF laser), they have nevertheless
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stimulated a gradual increase in the projections of laser-driver energies re-

quired for breakeven or reactor applications. At the present time, breakeven

requirements are set at 300 to 500 kJ while significant gain (~ 100) is projected

to require a driver energy of 2 MJ (to within a factor of 3).

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Concern about inadequate coupling between incident laser light and the

target has stimulated a rapid growth in the development of ion beams as ICF
SCOPE OF TEXT

23

drivers. The advanced state of pulsed diode accelerator development has led to

a rapid buildup in the light ion beam fusion program. In 1979 Sandia achieved

proton beam power densities of 1 TW/cm2 in experiments using the Proto-I

accelerator. This provided confidence that the pellet ignition requirement of

100 TW/cm2 could be achieved by overlapping a large number of such ion

beams.34 The Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator started target experiments with

36 light ion beam modules in 1981 at the 30-TW level (with several hundred

kilojoules on target). This machine's output is scheduled to be increased to 100

TW (72 beams) by the mid-1980s.

Serious studies of heavy ion drivers are also under way. Both RF linear

accelerators with charged particle storage rings and linear induction accelera-

tors are being examined. Unfortunately, the cost of even a modest heavy-ion-

driven fusion experiment is very high93 (about 10 times that of a comparable

light ion beam experiment), and a major commitment to this driver type must

await further detailed studies.

Any major change in driver, from lasers to light or heavy ion beams,

necessitated by target interaction physics is likely to have a serious impact on

the progress of the inertial confinement fusion program, possibly delaying the

demonstration of scientific feasibility (breakeven) until the late 1980s or early

1990s. An inertial confinement fusion test facility capable of demonstrating

feasibility is now projected to cost upward of $500 million, regardless of driver

type. The uncertainty of target designs and possible driver configurations also

complicates an assessment of practical applications of this technology. In fact,

the interrelation of driver, target design, and reactor design is so complex that

it is impossible to say whether or not an economical inertial confinement

fusion reactor can be designed, even if driver-target physics problems are

solved.

Despite this uncertainty, there is still strong support for continued research

and development on inertial confinement fusion for energy applications. In

1979 the Foster Committee92 concluded that "inertial confinement fusion

shows excellent promise of succeeding eventually in civilian (energy) applica-

tions. We can see no insurmountable technical difficulties."

Table 1.4. A Summary of Inertial Confinement Fusion Driver Status

Lasers

Electron Beams
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Light Ion Beams

Heavy Ion Beams

Beam particles

Photons
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Electrons

p.a.C+4

Xe-U

(0.2-10 n m)

(1-10 MeV)

(1-10 MeV)

(l-50GeV)

Power

30 TW

30 TW

30 TW

2TW

(Shiva)

(PBFA-I)

(PBFA-I)

(ISR)

Energy

20 kJ

1000 kJ

1000 kJ

6 MJ

(Shiva)

(PBFA-I)

(PBFA-I)

Seriously proposed

300 TW/300 kJ

IOOTW/4000kJ

100TW/4000kJ

600 TW/10MJ
24

INTRODUCTION

1.4. SCOPE OF THE TEXT

This text is intended to serve as an introduction to inertial confinement fusion.

In any such field that is as yet so far removed from practical applications, there

are a great many uncertainties that tend to influence a selection of topics.

Primary among these is a choice of driver. Although early investigations have

emphasized laser fusion, more recent efforts have shifted attention to ion

beams. We have chosen to deal with the uncertainty surrounding a final choice

of driver by keeping the first half of the text as general as possible, describing

inertial confinement fusion physics in a manner independent of driver type.

A second uncertainty is somewhat more difficult to deal with. This concerns

the mists of security classification that tend to veil certain aspects of inertial

confinement fusion because of the presumed similarity to nuclear weapons

physics. Fortunately, the classification veil is rather narrow and involves only

certain aspects of target design. Hence most of the physics of inertial confine-

ment fusion, including the details of driver design, driver energy deposition,

target dynamics, and many aspects of inertial confinement fusion target design

have appeared in the open literature and will be discussed in this text.

In line with our effort to keep our development of inertial confinement

fusion concepts as independent of driver type as possible, we will adopt a

pedagogy of working backward: from the details of inertially confined thermo-

nuclear burn, to hydrodynamic implosions and compression, to energy trans-

port in dense plasmas, and finally to a detailed consideration of driver energy

deposition in the target. It is only at this last stage that we will need to

introduce particular details of driver types. We will devote particular attention

to the theoretical, computational, and experimental tools used to analyze the

behavior of inertial confinement fusion targets.

We then turn our attention to the inertial confinement fusion drivers and

consider laser and charged particle beam drivers in detail. Here we not only

discuss present driver types, but also attempt to look ahead at possible future

driver types intended for advanced applications.

Our final topic is applications of inertial confinement fusion. After a brief

discussion of target design, we turn to a detailed discussion of applications,

with particular attention devoted to power production (including the produc-

tion of process heat and synthetic fuels).

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72. F. Floux, D. Cognard, L. G. Denoeud, G. Piar, D. Parisot, J. L. Bobin, F. Delobeau, and C

Fauquignon. "Nuclear Fusion Reactions in Solid Deuterium Laser-Produced Plasma," Phys.

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Rev. Al, 821 (1970).

73. A. Caruso, B. Bertotti, and P. Guipponi, "Ionization and Heating of Solid Material by Means

of a Laser Pulse," Nuovo Cimento B45, 176 (1966).

74. A. Caruso and R. Gratton, "Some Properties of the Plasmas Produced by Irradiating Solids
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by Light Pulses," Plas. Phys. 10, 867 (1968).

75. P. Mulser and S. Witkowski, "Numerical Calculations of the Dynamics of a Laser Irradiated

Solid Hydrogen Foil." Phys. Lett. A28, 703 (1969).

76. C. Yamanaka, T. Yamanaka, T. Sasaki, K. Yoshida, M. Waki, and H. B. Kang, "Anomalous

Heating of a Plasma by Lasers," Phys. Rev. A6, 2335 (1972).

77. N. G. Basov, P. G. Kryokov, S. D. Zakharov, Yu. V. Senatskiy, and S. V. Chekalin,

"Experiments on the Observation of Neutron Emission at the Focus of High-Power Laser

Radiation on a Lithium Deuteride Surface," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE-4, 864 (1968).

78. G. Charatis, J. Downward, R. Goforth, B. Guscott, T. Henderson, S. Hildum, R. Johnson, K.

Moncur, T. Leonard, F. Mayer, S. Segall, L. Siebert, D. Solomon, and C. Thomas, "Experi-

mental Study of Laser Driven Compression of Spherical Glass Shells," Plasma Physics and

Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion (Vienna, International Atomic Energy Agency, 1974).

28

INTRODUCTION

79. G. F. McCall, F. Young. A. W. Ehler, J. F. Kephardt, and R. P. Godwin, "Neutron Emission

from Laser-Produced Plasmas," Phys. Rev. Lett. 30, 1116 (1973).

80. V. W. Slivinsky, H. G. Ahlstrom, K. G. Tirsell. J. Larsen, S. Glaros, G. Zimmerman, and H.

Shay, "Measurement of the Ion Temperature in Laser Driven Fusion," Phys. Rev. Lett. 35.

1083 (1975).

81. D. R. Speck et al., "The Performance of Argus as a Laser Fusion Facility," UCRL-79816,

presented at the Eleventh European Conference on Laser Interaction With Matter, Oxford.

England (1977).

82. D. R. Speck et al., "Performance of the Shiva Laser Fusion Facility," Lawrence Livermore

Laboratory Report UCRL 82117, presented at the 1979 IEEE Conference on Laser Engineer-

ing and Applications, Washington, D.C. (1979).

83. T. J. Gilmartin, "Nova, the Laser Fusion Scientific Feasibility Experiment," Lawrence

Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-82094, presented at the 1979 IEEE conference on Laser

Engineering and Applications, Washington, D.C. (1979).

84. H. G. Ahlstrom, "Progress of Laser Fusion at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory," Lawrence

Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-82835 Rev 1 (1979).

85. K. R. Manes and J. A. Glaze, "Recent Inertial Confinement Fusion Results From the SHIVA

Target Irradiation Facilities," Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-83274 (1979).

86. C. A. Fenstermacher, M. J. Nutter, W. T. Leland, and K. Boyer, "Electron Beam Controlled

Electrical Discharge as a Method of Pumping Large Volumes of CO-2 Laser Media at High

Pressure," Appl. Phys. Lett. 20, 56 (1972).

87. K. B. Mitchell, D. B. Van Hulsteyn, G. H. McCall, P. Lee, and H. Greim, "Compression

Measurements of Neon Filled Glass Microballoons Irradiated by CO2 Laser Light," Phys.

Rev. Lett. 42, 232 (1979).

88. R. B. Perkins. "Recent Progress in Inertial Confinement Fusion Research at the Los Alamos

Scientific Laboratory," Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Report LA-UR-78-1629 (1978).

89. W. D. Metz. "Energy Research: Accelerator Builders Eager to Aid Fusion Work," Science

194,307 (1976).

90. S. V. Basenkov et al., "Accelerator Module of ANGARA-5," IEEE Pulsed Power Conference

Lubbock, Texas (1979), U.S. Department of Energy Document (NTIS) CONF-790622 (1979).

91. "Report of the Panel on High Density Compression Experiments," W. J. Shafer Associates,

United States Department of Energy Report WJSA-78-6-SR7 (1978).

92. "Final Report of the Ad Hoc Experts Group on Fusion" (The Foster Committee), United

States Department of Energy Report DOE/ER-0008 (Washington. 1978).

93. K. Brueckner. "An Assessment of Drivers and Reactors for Inertial Confinement Fusion," K.
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A. Brueckner Associates, prepared for the Electric Power Research Institute, EPRI-AP-1371

(1980).
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TWO

Inertially Confined

Thermonuclear Fusion

Reactions

The dynamical behavior of a burning thermonuclear fuel depends on many

complex phenomena. These include charged particle collision processes, nuclear

fusion reaction kinetics, the hydrodynamic behavior of the fuel (including both

its motion and its temperature), the production and transport of radiation, and

the transport of nonthermal particles such as reaction products. The relative

importance of these phenomena differs significantly for high density, inertially

confined fusion fuels compared to the relatively dilute thermonuclear plasmas

characterizing magnetic fusion systems.

In this chapter we focus our attention on the dynamics of the nuclear fusion

reaction itself, postponing a detailed consideration of hydrodynamic and

energy transport processes in inertial confinement fusion to later chapters. Of

particular importance is a discussion of the various nuclear fusion processes of

most interest in ICF applications, the criteria for efficient thermonuclear

ignition and burning of fuels, and the important processes that determine the

fuel gain (i.e., the ratio of the fusion energy produced by the fuel and the driver

energy necessary to ignite the fusion burn).

2.1. FUSION REACTION PHYSICS

At sufficiently high temperatures there are many possible candidates for fusion

fuels. Although most first generation fusion concepts are based on D-T or D-D

fusion reactions, other fuel cycles based either on deuterium fuels (e.g., D-3He

and D-6Li) or proton fuels (p-6 Li and />-"B) become attractive alternatives for

advanced fusion systems.

All such fusion reactions are binary in the sense that two-body collision

processes are involved. The fusion reaction represents a barrier penetration

29
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30 INERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

phenomenon in which the colliding nuclei penetrate the repulsive Coulomb

barrier to within the ranjg. of .^tractivenuclearTorces.' For example, the

nuclear fusion cross section for the D-T reaction has a resonance near zero

energy^ reaching a peak of about 5T)arns at 125 keV. More generally, the

energy dependence of the fusion cross section can be roughly described by

Gamow,s barrier penetration model as

a(£)~|exp(^) , (2.1)

where £js the energy available to the cojlisionjn the center of mass frame1_and

A and B are constants characterizing the particular fusion reaction species.

In alhermonuclear fusion process, the fuel ions are confined in such a way

that they collide with one another millions and millions of times at high

temperature, scattering about until a fusion reaction occurs. Hence the rate at

which such fusion reactions occur involves an average over the velocity

distributions of the participating species. More precisely, if nA is the ion

density of species A while nB is the density of species B, then the rate at which

fusion reactions occur is given by

RAB=nAnB(vaAB) (2-2)

where ( - - - > indicates an average over the velocity distributions of both

species2-3:

^^-^S^S^b^oMN^N^) (2.3)

nAnBJ J

where vn\ = \\A — \g\. In most cases, we assume that these distributions are those

characterizing a plasma fuel in thermal equilibrium at a temperature T, that is,

by a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution

w<'>=M<«>="(2^rM-s?) <2-4>

We can then use analytic expressions for the cross section such as the Gamow

formula Eq. 2.1 or more precise tabulated data to perform the integration and

determine the Maxwellian-averaged reaction rate parameter (ua) for various

fuel temperatures T. Plots of this parameter versus temperature have been

provided for the reactions of most interest in fusion applications in Figure

2.1.4"9

Two comments concerning the Maxwellian-averaged fusion reaction rates

are appropriate here. Although the fusion cross sections peak at relativelyhigh.

particle collision energies, the Maxwellian-averagecTconTsion rate parameters

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FUSION REACTION PHYSICS 31

T (keV)

Figure 2.1. Maxwellian-averaged fusion reaction rates versus ion temperature for the

principal isotopes of interest to inertial confinement fusion applications.

rise to appreciable values at far lower temperatures (e.g., 10 keV in the case of

the D-T reaction). The reason for this is that the high energy particles in the

Maxwellian distribution provide most of the contribution to the reaction rate.

That is, the particles in the tail of the distribution function with energies many

times that of thermal energy control the rate of the fusion reaction.

The second important comment concerns the relative magnitude of the

reaction rates for various fusion reactions. It is apparent from Figure 2.1 that

for lower fuel temperatures (10 keV), the D-T reaction proceeds at a rate

almost two orders of magnitude larger than that characterizing the D-D

reaction (or any other species, for that matter). Hence it is not surprising that

this particular reaction has received most attention in fusion research.

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32 INERT1ALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

2.1.1. D-T AND D-D FUSION REACTIONS

Of most interest in early fusion concepts are the deuterium-based fusion

reactions, D-T, D-D, and D-3He, since these are characterized by appreciable

reaction rates at temperatures below 100 keV. The largest reaction rate at low

temperatures is provided by the D-T reaction:

D + T-a(3.5 MeV)+n(14.1 MeV)

where the 17.6-MeV reaction energy (the "Q value") is partitioned between a

3.5-MeV alpha particle (2 He) and a 14.1-MeV neutron. From Figure 2.1 we

find that the reaction rate for the D-T process has a broad maximum between

temperatures of 20 and 80 keV.

The next most probable reaction at low temperatures is the D-D fusion

reaction. It is characterized by two branches of approximately equal probabil-

ity:

^He(0.82 MeV) + n(2.45 MeV)

D+D

^ 3T( 1.01 MeV) +p{3.02 MeV)

The reaction products, 2He and 3T, have a high probability of reacting with

deuterium as they slow down:

^T* + ?D-^He(3.5 MeV)+n(14.1 MeV)

|He* + fD-^He(3.6 MeV)+/>(14.7 MeV)

where the asterisk denotes a nonthermal particle. In fact, the largest fraction of

the overall £)-value is a result of such secondary reactions. The total reaction

6D^2*2He + 2p+2n

has a £?-value of 43.25 MeV. This gives a specific yield of 345 MJ/mg for the

D-D reaction as compared to 339 MJ/mg for D-T.

It should be noted that a D-T fuel mixture will always be accompanied to

some degree by D-D and D-3He reactions. More specifically, we can write

down the rate equations for a D-T thermonuclear fuel mixture as

HDnx<uoDT)-nD(t;oDD>

nDnT(vaDT) (2.5)

Since the D-D reaction produces one triton T for every two fusion reactions,

we might expect that the equation for nT should also contain a source term of

the form n}y(vaDT). However here we must remember that the tritium ion

appears with an energy of roughly 1 MeV. Thus it is not in thermal equilibrium

dt

dnT
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dt
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FUSION REACTION PHYSICS

33

with the tritium fuel, and its contribution to the reaction rate must be treated

separately (in effect, as a "beam plasma" interaction with an enhanced

reaction rate).

It should be apparent from Figure 2.1 that the D-T reaction will dominate if

the fuel contains more than a few percent tritium. However, if the fuel can be

brought to temperatures where the D-D reaction will contribute, then the

products T and 3 He will react promptly with the D nuclei, yielding an overall

energy release per unit burned mass that is the same as that for the D-T

reaction, namely 3.5 MeV per nucleon (assuming that the neutron reaction

product escapes the reaction region without appreciable energy loss).

Since tritium is a radioactive nuclide (with a half-life of 12.3 years), it is not

naturally occurring but rather must be produced artificially to fuel a fusion

system. Fortunately, tritium can be produced quite easily by using neutron

capture reactions in lithium:

n+5Li-T+3He + 4.8 MeV

n + ]Li-T+«He+n-2.4 MeV

The first process is a capture reaction involving neutrons of any energy. The

second process is effectively an inelastic scattering reaction requiring a neutron

energy in excess of the 2.4-MeV threshold. Since each D-T reaction produces

one neutron, it is possible to breed tritium by surrounding the fusion reaction

region with a lithium blanket.

2.1.2. ADVANCED FUSION FUELS

The first fusion devices to achieve energy break-even and then commercializa-

tion as reactors will undoubtedly be based on the D-T fuel cycle. However, the

ultimate goal is to eventually move toward advanced fuels that minimize

radioactivity and are based on naturally occurring fuel nuclides. Examples

include the deuterium-based fuel cycles D-D, D-3He, and D-6Li and the

proton-based fuel cycles/>-"B andp-6U. (See Table 2.1.)10"12

More specifically consider the dominant reactions characterizing the proton-

based fuel cycles:

,a + 8Be(8.590 MeV)

^3a(8.682 Mev)

and

/> + 6Li^a + 3He(4.023 MeV)

In both cases the fuel isotopes are naturally occurring. Furthermore, the
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reaction products are charged and therefore would be confined in the reaction

region of the fuel, unlike the high energy neutrons produced in the D-T

reactions (and to a lesser extent in the D-D reaction). Note that the p-uB

reaction might almost be termed a thermonuclear "fission" reaction since it

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34 INERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

Table 2.1. Thermonuclear Reactions for Advanced Fuels

Fuel Reaction Products (MeV) Q Value (MeV)

(D,T)

«He(3.5),Jn(14.1)

17.6

(D,D)

jHe(.82),in(2.45)

3.65

JT(1.01), |H(3.02)

(D.He3)

^He(3.6), |H(14.7)

18.3

(D,Li6)

2^He(22.4)

22.4

(P.Li7)

24He(22.4)

22.4

(P,B")

3lHe(8.682)

8.682

breaks the "B nucleus into three alpha particles emitted with a continuum

energy spectrum, much as in beta decay.

The advantages of such advanced fuel cycles are significant. The fuels

involved in the p-uB or p-6Li cycles are sufficiently abundant to ensure an

inexhaustible fuel supply. The absence of tritium in the fuel cycle eliminates

the difficulties involved in breeding and managing this radioactive material.

The effective elimination of neutron production from the fuel cycle eliminates

the difficulties posed by radiation damage. Hence the major environmental

and safety drawbacks of D-T nuclear fusion reactors are eliminated in these

advanced fuel cycles.

Unfortunately, the reaction rates for the proton-based fuel cycles do not

become appreciable until high fuel temperatures can be achieved (ion tempera-

tures of roughly 300 keV). A detailed plot of reaction rate parameter (va)

versus ion temperature for various advanced fuel cycles is provided in Figure

2.1. New effects become important such as fast (nonthermal) fusion, nuclear
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elastic and inelastic scattering, and the Doppler broadening of cross sections

due to the energy distribution of reaction products. We should note that recent

interest in the />-"B reaction as an advanced fusion fuel cycle has stimulated a

more careful evaluation of its fusion cross section. The resulting average
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reaction rate parameter is now felt to lie roughly 65% lower (at the ignition

temperature of 300 keV) than the earlier data shown in Figure 2.1.13

Thus, while advanced fuel cycles certainly exhibit the desirable characteris-

tics of minimum radioactivity and inexhaustible fuel supply, they do require

far higher fuel temperatures (and/or fuel densities). The implications of these

requirements for the design of advanced inertial confinement fusion fuels will

become more apparent in the next section.

2.2. THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTION CRITERIA

2.2.1. THE LAWSON CRITERION

The usual Lawson criterion14 for a thermonuclear fusion process is obtained by

balancing the fusion energy release against the energy investment in bringing

the fuel to thermonuclear temperatures and the energy lost through radiation
THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTION CRITERIA 35

(both bremsstrahlung and cyclotron radiation):

^fusion — ^thermal -^radiation (2-6)

The fusion energy released is given in terms of the fusion reaction rate and the

time characterizing the reaction, the confinement time t. To be more specific,

we will consider a D-T fusion reaction, in which case the fusion energy release

^fusion can De written as

E(Usion="D"r(vo)Wr=^(va)Wr (2.7)

where (va) is the Maxwellian-averaged reaction rate parameter, W is thg

energy released per fusion reaction (17.6 MeV for D-T), and r is the confine-

ment time. Here we have assumed equimolar concentrations of D and T so

that

_n

nD-nT- 2

where n is the ion number density. The thermal energy, assuming ideal gas

behavior, is then given by

£«hem»i= \nkTMnkT=3nkT (2.8)

where we have assumed 7]=T, for convenience. We will ignore the radiation

energy loss for now,

F ~f)

^radiation "

noting that if the fuel temperature is greater than 4 keV, the fusion energy

release will exceed the bremsstrahlung radiation loss. In inertial confinement

schemes, the thermonuclear burn typically occurs at 20 to 100 keV. Further-

more, in such schemes, magnetic field effects can be ignored to first order so

that cyclotron radiation is of little concern.

If we now balance the fusion energy release against the thermal energy,

— (va)Wr=3nkT

we can solve for a condition on the density times the time of confinement

nr>-—— (2.9)

(vo)W

When the reaction rate is evaluated at suitable temperatures (10 keV for D-T,

100 keV for D-D), this yields the usual Lawson criteria:

ht> 1014 s/cm3 for D-T reactions

nr> 1016 s/cm3 for D-D reactions (2.10)

Similar criteria can be obtained for other possible fusion reactions.

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36

INERT1ALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

2.2.2. CRITERIA FOR EFFICIENT INERTIAL CONFINEMENT

FUSION: THE pR CRITERION

The basic concept of inertial confinement fusion is to implode the fuel to very

high densities so that the time of thermonuclear fusion reactions becomes

shorter than the inertial confinement time (the fuel pellet disassembly time).

That is, in the ICF process the time available for the fusion reaction is

determined by the disassembly of the thermonuclear fuel under its high

pressure, this expansion being retarded only by the fuel,s inertia. This ap-

proach removes the constraints on fuel density posed by the structural limita-

tions of magnetic confinement fusion systems. In so doing, it also allows far

more efficient thermonuclear burn (since we have found that the fusion

reaction rate scales as the square of the fuel density—see Eq. 2.2). However the

drawback in inertial confinement fusion is that the time scale of the process is

determined by the dynamics of the burning fuel and cannot be controlled by

external means.

Such considerations motivate the use of an alternative to the Lawson

criterion in characterizing the efficiency of the thermonuclear fusion reaction

process. The most meaningful figure of merit for ICF plasmas is the product of

the fuel density p and the radius R, rather than the customary density-

confinement time m product arising in the Lawson criterion.15, 16 To under-

stand this, suppose we estimate the fuel disassembly time as the pellet radius R

divided by the speed of sound (essentially the time required for a density

disturbance to propagate from the surface of the pellet into the center):

fuel disassembly timc=Trf (2.11)

In a similar fashion, we can estimate the thermonuclear reaction time as the

inverse of the reaction rate:

thermonuclear reaction time=rb~ | ^jj" J (va) (212)

Thus a crude estimate of the efficiency of the thermonuclear burn is given by

the ratio of these times

thermonuclear burn fraction =/■= —

(2.13)

where we have introduced the thermonuclear burn fraction fb defined as the

fraction of the fuel consumed in the reaction. (We will develop a slightly more

accurate expression for fh, which accounts for fuel depletion, later in this
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THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTION CRITERIA

37

section.)

We now recall that

Furthermore, for D-T fuel at efficient burn temperatures (20 to 80 keV),17

Hence, if we substitute in numerical values for this temperature range, we find

J—~ constant ~ 1

mlcs

Therefore the burn fraction fb, which measures the efficiency of the thermo-

nuclear burn, is given approximately by

thermonuclear burn r „ . , t~,.s

efficiency ~f>~9*%/** (2-14)

Hence the criterion characterizing efficient inertial confinement fusion is

apparently ^\^\

pR>\ g/cm2

The product of density times radius, pR, is important for other reasons. To

sustain the thermonuclear burn, some of the fusion energy must be redeposited

in the fuel. For the case of D-T reactions,

D+T-a(3.5 MeV) + n(14.1 MeV)

To capture the energy of the 3.5-MeV alpha particle, the fuel size must exceed

the range of the alpha. But the range of a 3.5-MeV alpha particle in a 20-keV

D-Tj>lasmais about 0.5 g/cm2. Hence if we can achieve fuel conditions such

that p/?>0.5Lthen the alpha energy will be deposited in the fuel and efficient

self-heating will occur.

A somewhat different perspective on the importance of the pR product is

useful18. The most important processes in fusion reactions are binary collisions.

Examples include the fusion reactions themselves as well as the collision

processes, which lead to charged particle reaction product slowing down and

energy deposition (self-heating) and electron-ion energy exchange. Since binary

processes depend on the square of the density, if we could somehow increase

density by a factor of 103, then we could increase the collision rate by 106.
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38 INERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

More precisely, we can scale the three important rates characterizing the

burning fuel as being proportional to the square of the density p:

~P2

rate of thermonuclear burn

rate of energy deposition by charged particles

rate of electron-ion energy exchange

But we have found that

inertial confinement time~/?

Hence we can scale each of the major processes occurring in the ICF fuel (per

unit mass) as

thermonuclear burn efficiency

self-heating ~pR

burn propagation

We will demonstrate later that the optimum value of j>/? is about 3 g/cm2

. for D-T fuels. Hence for inertial confinement fusion in D-T fuel, we replace

the usual Lawson criterion

nT>1014 s/cm3

with the new goal 11 X

p/?>3g/cm2 (2.15)

2.2.3. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE pR AND nr CRITERIA

We can easily relate the Lawson criterion and the pR criterion for inertial

confinement fusion. We will use a slightly more accurate estimate19 of the

disassembly time for a freely expanding sphere of radius R

(2-16)

which takes account of the fact that in a spherical fuel pellet, half of the mass

is beyond 80% of the radius. If we furthermore note that the number density

n = p/ml% we can write

(2-17)

4C-Jm, '

If we substitute in the appropriate numbers, we find that

pR = 3 g/cm2 =» nr=2X 1015 s/cm3

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THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTION CRITERIA

Hence efficient thermonuclear burn demands am product well in excess of

that of the usual Lawson criterion (1014 s/cm3). (It should be noted that

magnetic confinement fusion schemes that work close to the Lawson criterion

will burn only a small fraction of their thermonuclear fuel.)

2.2.4. DEPLETION EFFECTS

We can improve our estimate of the burn fraction fh by taking account of the

depletion of the fuel as the burn proceeds. Recall the rate equation for the

tritium fuel density:

^jf = -nDnT(voDT) (2.18)

If we take equimolar densities, nD = nT — n/2, we find

$=-£<«>

We can now integrate this equation from time t = 0 to the disassembly time

t=rd to find

1 1 1/ v

Hva)Td

n n0

where n0 is the initial fuel number density.

Let us now define the burn fraction fb as

A=^- = l-- (2.20)

If we now use our estimate for the disassembly time rd=R/4cs and p = nmi, we

find

pR

\ (vo) J \-fb

or rearranging:

(&mics/(vo))+PR

(2.21)

We can evaluate the bracketed quantity (8w,cJ/(uo» for D-T fuel conditions

at 20 keV to find

(2.22)
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40 INERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

Thus our more accurate expression for the burn fraction fb in D-T fuel that

accounts for fuel depletion is

^ A-riSs . <2 23>

In particular, note that pR~3 g/cm2 implies a burn fraction of /fc=0.30, that

is, a burn of some 30% of the fuel.

2.2.5. POSSIBLE ICF FUEL CANDIDATES

It is apparent from our earlier discussion that the D-T fuel cycle will be used in

early fusion reactors because of its significantly larger fusion reaction rate at

relatively low fuel temperatures (10 keV). However the copious quantities of

14-MeV neutrons produced by this reaction present difficult radiation damage

problems. Furthermore the tritium inventory in D-T reactor concepts ranges

from 10 to 100 kg (109 curies) and presents a significant radioactivity hazard.

Hence some attention has been given to advanced fuel cycles that minimize

fast neutron radiation damage and eliminate the need for tritium breeding. Of

most interest are the D-D and /?-"B fusion reactions. Since these fuels are

generally characterized by lower reaction rates than D-T at low temperatures,

the success of utilizing them in ICF systems will depend on increased values of

both ignition temperatures and pR.UJ2

We can estimate the pR requirements for these fuels by returning to our

expression for the burn fraction fh given by Eq. 2.21. This equation provides us

with a means to compare the attractiveness of various fusion reactions since we

can evaluate their pR requirements for efficient thermonuclear burn:

pR> '

(vo)

We have tabulated this requirement on pR for the three fusion reactions of

most interest in Table 2.2.

More accurate estimates of the pR and ignition requirements necessary to

burn advanced fuels require the use of ICF target simulation computer codes

to study the burn dynamics of specific target designs. Using the PHD-IV code,

the Wisconsin group20 found that the optimum performance for D-D-fueled

targets was achieved at pR values between 40 and 80 g/cm2 at an ignition

Table 2.2 Candidates for Inertial Confinement Fusion Fuels

Fuel Candidate

pR Requirement (g/cm2)

D + T-4He+n

2 to 5
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VHe+„

10 to 20

^ T + /7

"B+/7-34Hc
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~500
A SIMPLE ANALYSIS OF ICF DRIVER REQUIREMENTS

41

temperature of 20 keV. The minimum pR value necessary to burn D-D fuels

was 10 g/cm2. Such parameters implied a target yield of 100 to 200 MJ and a

gain of 200 to 300. For moderate-size targets (1 mg), such large values of pR

require very large compressions (105). To relax this compression requirement,

D-D fuel cycles will probably require more massive pellets producing higher

fusion energy yields. Massive targets also require larger driver energies, proba-

bly in the 100-MJ range (and therefore lower pellet gains on the order of 10).

The minimum target conditions for burning p-uB are p/?~50 g/cm2 and

400 keV, while the optimum pR value is 500 g/cm2. The high pR and

temperature necessary for burn propagation in/?-"B targets are due in part to

the excessive number of electrons present in the /?-"B fuel. It is unlikely that

such very large values of pR can be achieved by hydrodynamic processes since

this would imply an implosion velocity of 3X 108 cm/s (an order of magnitude

greater than needed for D-T). As with D-D fuels, larger pR values will require

both larger compressions and larger fuel masses, thereby implying greater

yields and driver energies. The driver sizes required by the p-uB fuel cycle

appear to rule out its use in ICF reactor applications, at least as based on

present driver or target design concepts.

2.3. A SIMPLE ANALYSIS OF ICF DRIVER REQUIREMENTS

Let us now examine the requirements on a driver (laser or charged particle

beam) designed to implode ICF fuel pellets to produce a net energy gain.21 A

crude sketch of such an ICF system is given in Figure 2.2. We will define

pellet or target

energy gain or =M=^^ (2.24)

multiplication driver

driver coupling _ £fuel

efficiency ~Ep- £driver

The fusion energy can then be calculated in terms of the fusion reaction rate

and the volume of the fuel pellet (assumed to be a simple sphere of radius R)

as

E,^(UR3)n2(vo)Wrli (2.25)

r\^v*. ^» Fusion energy £|(

Driver " Fuel, pellet- v

'/»-/;, v

Driver energy Fuel energy EfMl

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Figure 2.2. A crude diagram of an inertial confinement fusion power system.

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42 1NERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

Here we have introduced a factor B to account for reaction product self-heating

and thermonuclear burn propagation, processes that we will consider in more

detail later in this chapter.

We now recall that the derivation of the familiar Lawson criterion proceeded

by balancing

^fusion = £fuel

to find nt~1014 s/cm3 (for D-T reactions). Therefore we might proceed by

balancing

£fasion = Af£driwr= ~ Efuc\ (2-26)

to find a new Lawson criterion

nt>-^-X1014 (2.26)

PCD

But we are after more information—the driver energy £drivcr itself.

If we take the electron and ion temperatures to be equal, Te=T,= T, and at

their initial burn temperatures, then

- £fuel = thermal energy = (fir/?3)2(\nkT) (2.27)

We can return to substitute this into our balance condition Eq. 2.25, recalling

to write

(|W/?3) n\va > WB (-)= — ( fw/?3)( nkT)

\ cs I £D

We can now solve for R as

R=lJL\ kTc*

\BeDJn(va)W

Finally, we use the definition of eD given by Eq. 2.24 to write

£drivcr= ffuel = ( ^ ) ( „^yW ) "kT (2-28)

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THE SCENARIO FOR INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION

43

We can write this in a more convenient form as

A/3 1

Edtivc = ——i-X\.6X\O<J (2.29)

where we have introduced the compression factor

"liquid

(2.30)

where we have chosen as a reference density the number density of liquid D-T,

nKqiri<j=4.5X 1022 cm-3. (The corresponding mass density g/cm3.)

A couple of example applications of this result are of interest. If we were to

estimate the driver requirements for energy break-even, M— 1, assuming fuel at

liquid density, tj= 1, and perfect coupling but with no self-heating or burn

propagation, BeD—\, then the formula would yield a driver requirement of

^driver= 1-6 MJ. A reactor application with M= 100, ij= 1, and BeD= 1 would

required £driver= 1.6X 106 MJ. Hence the required driver energies are quite

large if we are working with fuels at liquid density.

But notice that the driver energy scales as the inverse square of the

compression. If we were somehow able to compress the fuel to very high

densities, say, a compression factor of 104, then the reactor driver energy is

reduced to £ariver= 16 kJ. Although this estimate is far too optimistic, it does

demonstrate the strong sensitivity of driver energy requirements on fuel

compression.

As an aside, we should note that most of the driver energy will be used to

compress rather than heat the fuel. We will demonstrate later that the driver

coupling efficiency is typically about eD~5%, even if the driver beam is totally

absorbed in the target. Hence if we are to achieve BeD~\, we will need a

multiplication due to alpha particle self-heating and thermonuclear burn

propagation of y8~20. These latter processes will therefore play a very im-

portant role in any practical ICF scheme.

2.4. THE SCENARIO FOR INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION

We have noted that the most important processes in fusion reactions involve

binary collisions (fusion reactions, alpha particle energy deposition, and elec-

tron-ion temperature equilibration) and therefore scale as the square of the

compression. That is, increasing density by a factor of 103 increases the

collision rate by 106. This is manifested in the dependence of thermonuclear

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burn efficiency, self-heating, and burn propagation on the product of fuel

density times radius, pR.

In spherical compression, the density (for constant mass) scales as p~R"3.

Hence we find that the product pR~(R"3)R~R"2. Thus compression by 103

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44 1NERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

reduces the mass required to initiate efficient thermonuclear burn by 106. (The

typical imploded fuel masses in ICF targets are of the order of 10"3 g.)

But how do we achieve such densities?22 There are several examples on an

astronomical level. In the sun, compressions range as high as 103 with a

corresponding temperature of 1 to 2 keV. This corresponds to a pressure of

10" atmospheres. The fuel confinement is maintained by the enormous mass

of the sun, wo~1030 kg.

In white dwarf stars, compressions of 105 to 106 are found corresponding to

pressures of 1015 atm. At these compressions the electrons become degenerate.

That is, their de Broglie wavelengths become comparable to their mean

separation so that the exclusion principle becomes important and results in an

additional repulsive force.

So the necessary compressions (and densities) do occur on an astronomical

scale. But how can we generate sufficient pressures (1012 atm) to compress the

fuel to tj~ 104 in a terrestrial environment? There are several possibilities:

1. Chemical explosives. The pressures produced by chemical explosives are

limited by the strengths of chemical bonds to roughly 106 atm. These

pressures can be increased by another order of magnitude (107 atm) by

using geometric convergence (e.g., a spherical implosion), but they still fall

far short of the required magnitude.

2. Light pressure. Suppose we focus the intense beams of high-powered

lasers on the fuel. Then the ponderomotive force exerted by the light on

the pellet surface corresponds to a pressure of

/ 1017W/cm2 ln8

P 108 atm

c 3Xl0'°cm/s

still not high enough even with very powerful lasers.

3. Ablation pressure. Here the idea is to use the driver energy beam (laser

light or charged particle beams) to heat surface material and ablate it off

into the vacuum surrounding the pellet. The back reaction to the ablating

surface generates a pressure, much as that generated by a rocket exhaust.

For the same reason that matter-ejecting rockets have much larger thrust

than photon rockets, the pressure is multiplied to

^Z^iP^ 10'° atm

4. Geometric convergence. We can multiply this pressure further by taking

advantage of geometric convergence, for example, in a spherical implosion.

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This convergence can increase the pressure by a factor of 100.

5. Isentropic compression. If we compress the fuel isentropically so that it is

not heated to high temperatures, then we can compress it into a Fermi

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THE SCENARIO FOR INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION

45

degenerate state (that is, until the electrons obey Fermi-Dirac rather than

Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics). Then the pressure required for a given

compression or fuel density is at a minimum and given by22

For example, at a compression of tj~104 (corresponding to an electron

density of n^~5Xl026), the minimum pressure is />~1012 atm when

eF»kT. This should be compared with a required pressure of p~ 1013 for a

temperature of kT~5 keV (which corresponds to the ideal ICF fuel

ignition temperature for D-T).

To illustrate just how this enormous compression might be achieved, let us

consider the simplest scenario of the implosion of a fuel pellet to the required

densities using high-powered laser beams (see Figure 2.3)22,23:

1. We begin by irradiating a 1-mm sphere of liquid D-T fuel uniformly about

its surface with intense laser light (which will reach a peak power intensity

of 1017 W/cm2).

2. The outer surface of the pellet heats, ionizes, and ablates off to surround

the pellet in a cloud or "corona" of low density plasma, characterized by

electron densities ne~ 1019 to 1022 cm-3.

3. The electrons in the corona continue to absorb more energy from the

incident laser beams, but now the beam can only penetrate into the critical

density where the plasma frequency equals the light frequency. This critical

density surface occurs at 1021 cm-3 for Nd laser light at 1.06 jim and 1019

cm-3 for CO2 laser light at 10.6 /im.

4. The energy deposited by the laser at the critical surface is then transported

into the surface of the pellet by processes such as electron thermal

conduction. This energy continues to heat the pellet surface, driving the

ablation process and producing high pressures.

5. As the ablation of the surface continues, a shock front is formed that

converges (implodes) inward, pushing cold D-T fuel ahead of it to higher

and higher densities along the "Fermi degenerate adiabat." The various

hydrodynamic and energy transport phenomena involved in this stage of

the implosion process are shown in Figure 2.4. Here it is important to

compress the pellet fuel isentropically (without appreciable heating) in an

effort to bring it to very high density while still leaving it relatively cold.

(2.31)

where eF is the Fermi energy.

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46 INERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

Figure 2J. The stages in the implosion of an inertial confinement fusion target: (1)

irradiation by driver beams, (2) formation of plasma atmosphere, (3) driver beam

absorption in atmosphere, (4) ablation driven imploding shocks, (5) compression of fuel

core, (6) ignition, (7) burn propagation.

6. When the shock fronts converge at the center of the highly compressed

pellet core, they shock heat a small region at the center of the compressed

core to thermonuclear ignition temperatures (2 to 5 keV). If p^?>0.5

g/cm2 alpha particle self-heating will occur, and the intense spark at the

center of the compressed core will rapidly heat to optimum burn tempera-

tures of 20 to 100 keV.

7. As the central spark burns, some alpha particles are deposited in adjacent

cold fuel, bringing it to ignition temperatures. The tendency of the burning

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TARGET GAIN REQUIREMENTS

47

Cold .

fuel .

(~ eV)

Ablation *-

Shock

waves

Pellet

surface

7V

Pellet

Electron

thermal

conduction

Critical

surface

Corona

Driver

energy

deposition

Figure 2.4. The hydrodynamic and energy transport processes involved in an ICF

target implosion.

fuel spark to become more transparent to alphas as it heats up enhances

this process. The adjacent fuel material layer burns, producing further

self-heating in cold fuel material and producing a thermonuclear burn

wave that propagates outward, consuming the dense pellet core. If pR>3

g/cm2, an efficient thermonuclear burn will occur, with some 30% of the

fuel in the dense core being consumed.

Of course a great many physical processes, some of which are only margi-

nally understood, are involved in this scenario. These processes will be the

primary focus of Chapters 3, 4, and 5. Furthermore, this ICF target consisting

of liquid DT is oversimplified. More realistic and complex designs will be

discussed in Chapter 9.

2.5. TARGET GAIN REQUIREMENTS

Thus far we have considered the driver energies required for efficient thermo-
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nuclear burn in ICF targets, and have run through a brief scenario of one

possible implosion scheme. Let us turn this discussion around a bit by asking

just what value of pellet energy gain will be required in ICF applications.23

Recall that we have defined the pellet or target energy gain as

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pellet energy gain-M=^^ (2.32)

^.driver

Also recall the definition of the driver-coupling efficiency:

coupling efficiency=eD=-=— (2.33)

^driver

It is useful to introduce one further definition that takes into account the fact

that the thermonuclear burn will occur only in the highly compressed core of

the fuel pellet. We will define the fuel gain GF by

fuel gain EGf=^

^fuel

(2.34)
AH INERT1ALLY CONFINED THERMOM CLE\R FT SIGN REACTIONS

The fuel gain and pellet gain are related by the driver-coupling efficiency

M=tIfiF (2.35)

Here we recall that eD is determined not only by the efficiency of the driver

beam absorption process, but also by the efficiency in converting absorbed

energy into the energy of the compressed pellet core through the ablation

process. For example, a high gain pellet with M= 200 would be characterized

by a coupling efficiency of roughly eD~0.05 and therefore would require a very

large fuel gain of 6^=4000.

To determine the pellet gain requirements for a power reactor, suppose we

consider the use of the fusion energy to produce electricity through a thermal

cycle as shown schematically in Figure 2.5. Here we have noted that a certain

fraction of the produced electrical energy must be circulated back to power the

driver. We can associate an efficiency with each aspect of this process as

follows:

. driver energy output

driver efficiency=tid= — ;—. ,. —

driver electrical input

gross plant thermal efficiency=ijth (2.36)

net plant thermal efficiency=i\P

(taking into account driver power)

From the definition of the pellet gain we can determine

M= —j—! r-1 (2.37)

Hence we can solve for the plant efficiency as a function of pellet gain

Vp=V*—VD(M+\) (2 38)

The fraction of the gross electrical power needed for the driver, that is, the

Figure 2.5. The production of electricity using an inertia! confinement fusion driven

thermal cycle.
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TARGET GAIN REQUIREMENTS

49

recirculating power fraction FD, is given by

F= !

° VDVjM+\)

With this background, we can now go on to define two criteria for de-

termining pellet gain requirements:

Engineering breakeven: the fusion energy production is just sufficient to

balance driver energy needs, that is, FD — 1. Then the breakeven gain is

meb= IzlR (2.39)

Id

Scientific breakeven: the fusion energy production is just sufficient to

balance driver energy output.

MSB= 1 (2.40)

For typical thermal cycles, ijth ranges between 35 and 50%. Furthermore, most

driver designs (lasers in particular) are constrained by a limit on driver

efficiency of ijD~ 10%. Thus we find that

MEB~\0 (2.41)

For significant power production, it is apparent that we will need

A/>100 (2.42)

In fact, most power plant designs based on ICF schemes assume a pellet gain

of M~ 150 to 200.

For example, the Wisconsin SOLASE laser fusion reactor design20 assumes

parameters: laser efficiency ijD=0.07, fusion energy £fusion= 150 MJ, and laser

energy output £driver= 1 MJ. This would correspond to a pellet gain of

A/= 150.

It is apparent from Eq. 2.39 that the required pellet gain for engineering

breakeven is a very sensitive function of driver efficiency. Unfortunately, most

advanced laser drivers project only rather modest efficiencies in the 4 to 8%

range. These would require the development of high gain targets. For example,

a driver pulse energy of 1 or 2 MJ would achieve a fusion yield of 100 to 250

MJ per shot. Such low driver efficiencies also require a large circulating power

ratio FD (20 to 50%) to energize the laser. To reduce the circulating power ratio

to lower levels (10%) with laser drivers would appear to require very large

driver and pulse yields.

By way of contrast, light ion and heavy ion drivers should be able to achieve

efficiencies in the 20 to 30% range. High gain targets (M = 100 to 200) would
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then allow a recirculating power ratio of only 10% for a driver in the 1 to 2 MJ
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50 INERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

range and a fusion energy yield of 100 to 250 MJ per shot. Such charged

particle beam drivers, with their much larger efficiencies, could also be used

with low gain targets (M~30) with an increase in driver pulse energy (10 MJ)

and shot yield (300 MJ).

To better understand possible ICF target gains, let us examine in more detail

the fuel gain GF for D-T fuels. Although the largest D-T reaction rate occurs in

the temperature range 20 to 80 keV, let us base our estimates at the more

modest ignition temperature 10 keV. The energy required for a single D-T

reaction (including the thermal energy of both ions and electrons) is then

4X10 keV. Hence the energy gain from a single D-T reaction is (17.6

MeV)/(4X 10 keV) = 440. That is, a 100% burn of a uniformly heated pellet

core would yield a fuel gain of only GF=44Q. But this is not sufficient, since

we know that typical burn fractions are /fc~30 to 50%. Furthermore, the

driver-coupling efficiency of eo~0.05 implies that to achieve pellet gains of

M~ 100, we are going to need fuel gains of Gf~2000 or greater.

How do we design such high gain targets? It is useful to make some

order-of-magnitude estimates. Suppose we have managed to compress the core

of a fuel pellet to the desirable condition of p/?~3 g/cm2. Since this is

sufficient to capture the alpha reaction products (with range 0.5 g/cm2), we

need only heat the core to ignition temperatures of 1 to 2 keV. This corre-

sponds to a specific ignition energy of eltpition~-i0 MJ/g. To achieve the

necessary pR condition requires a compression of tj~104. If we manage to

compress the pellet into a degenerate state such that kT<eF~

1 keV, then the compression energy (pdV work) required is ^compression

30 MJ/g. Hence the total energy input required is the sum of the ignition and

compression energies, or 60 MJ per gram. But for a pR~3 g/cm2 fuel, the

specific fusion energy release efusion~ 10s MJ/g. Hence the maximum fuel gain

of such a target would be

ernrr 60

If we recall that roughly 95% of the driver energy goes into the ablation process

required to produce the high compressions, that is, eD=0.05, then we find a

pellet gain of

^.driver

Hence it is apparent that to achieve such high pellet gains, we must depend on

the processes of self-heating and thermonuclear burn propagation to minimize

the driver energy that will act as a match to light the fusion flame.
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As an aside, it should be noted that target gains tend to increase with both

driver energy and fusion energy yield. For example, numerical and analytic
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INERT1AL CONFINEMENT FUSION BURN PHYSICS 51

Driver energy (MJ)

Figure 2.6. Calculated pellet gain as a function of driver energy.

studies of various target designs predict a trend (see Figure 2.6)24,25

M=M0Eâ„¢er (2.43)

Here, depending on the model (and the degree of optimism), M0 varies from a

low of 30 to a high of 300.

2.6. INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION BURN PHYSICS

The key to the practical application of inertial confinement fusion is the

achievement of high target gains, that is, maximizing the ratio of fusion energy

released to driver energy. Considerations in the preceding section suggested

that target gains of as much as 100 would be needed to overcome driver and

energy conversion inefficiencies. The achievement of such high ICF target

gains will require taking advantage of several important physical processes: (1)

isentropic compression of the fuel to very high densities, (2) self-heating of the

compressed fuel to high temperature by trapping reaction products (alpha

particles) in the reaction region, and (3) igniting only a small region in the

compressed fuel and then allowing the thermonuclear burn to propagate

through the remaining fuel. In this section we examine each of these important

processes and their effect on target gain.

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52 INERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

2.6.1. TARGET COMPRESSION

To assess the importance of fuel compression, it is a useful exercise to examine

in some detail the heating of an uncompressed fuel target to fusion tempera-

tures. In particular, we will consider the target to be a simple spherical droplet

of D-T fuel at liquid density, Puqujd=0-2 g/cm3 (particle density n = 4.5X 1022

cm"'). The general idea is to attempt to heat the fuel pellet to thermonuclear

temperatures very rapidly so that an appreciable number of D-T fusion

reactions will occur before the pellet disassembles. The important physical

processes in this problem include: the heating of the pellet fuel to fusion

temperatures using driver energy deposited on its surface, the equilibration of

electron and ion temperatures in the fuel, and the hydrodynamic expansion or

disassembly of the target. We will base our discussion of these processes on a

simple model developed by Brueckner and Jorna.21,23

The key to the physics of the problem is to recognize that the driver beam

can deposit energy only in the outer layers of the target. For example, laser

light will only penetrate into the critical density (1021 cm-3 for 1.06-jam light).

Hence the interior of the target must be heated to fusion temperatures by some

mechanisms other than laser energy deposition. (Note that if we could develop

ultraviolet lasers, say with wavelengths in the 0.1 to 0.2 fim range, then the

light beam could penetrate into even liquid density plasma.)

We will take the principal heating mechanism to be electron thermal

conduction. The small electron mass makes these particles sufficiently mobile

that the plasma becomes an excellent conductor of heat. The thermal conduc-

tivity is strongly temperature dependent, scaling as k~T5/2. This temperature

dependence leads to a number of interesting nonlinear conduction effects

which will be considered in detail in Chapter 4.26 However, most relevant to

the present discussion is the formation of a thermal wave that moves into the

target to heat the fuel material.

In the actual pellet-heating process we find a large variety of physical

phenomena, including the absorption of the driver energy, the transport of this

energy into the surface of the pellet via electron thermal conduction, the

heating and ablation of the target surface, and the penetration of both thermal

and shock waves into the dense pellet fuel. However for the purposes of our

Figure 2.7. Heat wave propagation into a laser

heated target.
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INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION BURN PHYSICS

53

present discussion of the heating of an uncompressed target at constant liquid

density, we will consider a simple model in which the driver energy is

transported into the surface of a slab (one-dimensional) target in such a way

that the temperature at the surface is maintained at a constant magnitude Te.

The driver is assumed to maintain the surface of the target at this temperature.

This process will drive a thermal wave into the target which heats the dense

fuel material. We can estimate the distance d^ the heat wave will propagate

into the target in a time t by a simple energy balance (see Figure 2.7). If n0 is

the number density of the target and 4> is the driver power intensity (W/cm2)

at its surface, then

thermal energy

energy incident , ._, /. ...

aJ =tf>i~n0kTedHVJ = per unit area (2.44)

on surface ,.

of target

We can balance this energy flux against the heat flux conducted into the target

by using Fourier's law of heat conduction

dT

where k is the thermal conductivity. If we balance this against the incident

energy flux <j> and estimate the temperature gradient dT/dx~(Te/dHW), we

find

"HW

But for a plasma we have noted that the thermal conductivity depends on

temperature as

* = «0Te5/2

Hence we can solve for the distance of penetration of the heat wave as

'HW

kn0

1/2

(2.45)

(In Chapter 4 we will note that an exact solution of the nonlinear diffusion

equation describing heat conduction in a plasma will give a similar result.)

But this is only part of the story. We must now account for the fact that the

pellet will disassemble through the propagation of a rarefaction wave inward

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from its surface at the speed of sound. The depth of penetration of this

hydrodynamic disassembly wave is

k(Te+Tt)

1/2
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/ (2.46)
54 INERT1ALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

If we compare Eqs. 2.45 and 2.46, we note that since ^hw~iI/2 an^ dH~X, the

heat wave will initially propagate into the target more rapidly than the

disassembly wave. The rarefaction wave will catch up with the heat wave when

I = I K<> i£ (2 47)

HW \2v0n0) \k(T . rwil'/2

At this point the target density n0 will drop, and the driver beam (e.g., the laser

beam) can penetrate into the target and heat the fuel directly.

The thermal energy (per unit area) of the heated region of the target is given

by

If we heat this region to fusion temperatures, the fusion energy produced is

given in terms of the reaction rate as

£fusion= -f {v°W^R ^HW

where the reaction time rR can be identified as the disassembly time for the

region

jHw = 2k0t;5/2

" r" Cs V2„ok2{Te+Ti)

At what temperature do we evaluate (ua)? The heat wave will heat the

electrons first. The ion temperature will then equilibrate with that of the

electrons according to the rate equation

*H = ±(T-T\ 3m,m, / Te \3/2

dt t„V , lh " 8(2W)1/2«e4lnAUJ

We can again use simple estimates of the derivative term dTl/dt~Tl/jR to find

T~7f{T-T,)

If we now use our expression for the disassembly time for tr, we can solve for

7;~0.3157; (2.48)

This simple analysis suggests that the ions will only partially equilibrate with
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INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION BURN PHYSICS

55

the electrons.27,28 The ion temperature in the reaction zone will always be

much lower than the electron temperature. (This feature is confirmed by

computer simulations.)

We can now combine these equations to estimate the thermal energy of the

target fuel as

F -i^tviIL±IlV/2

^thermal t ^ \ 2k J

Thus we can determine

E,

fusion 1

thermal

(2.49)

Brueckner and Jorna have evaluated this expression for several typical cases.

For temperatures Te=\0 keV, the corresponding ion temperature is T,= 3.15

keV and the ratio of fusion to thermal energy is 0.0755. For electron tempera-

tures Te = 30 keV, the ion temperature is 7, = 9.45 keV and the fusion to

thermal energy ratio is 3.54. If we assume the driver beam is incident on a

target area of ird^, then the driver energy required for the first case is 505 kJ,

while that required for the second case (which exceeds breakeven) is 1,120 MJ.

Hence this simple model suggests that the driver requirements for breakeven

are of the order of 103 MJ because of the balance among the time required to

conduct heat into the target, the time required for the electron and ion

temperatures to equilibrate, and the time available before the pellet disassem-

bles. It is apparent from this analysis that the direct heating of an uncom-

pressed pellet looks quite out of the question. (And we still have not accounted

for incomplete driver energy absorption, energy lost to surface ablation, or

temperature and density gradients in the heated layer.)

Hence fuel compression will be essential for appreciable gain. We have

already seen the importance of this feature in our earlier expression Eq. 2.29

for the driver energy requirement (keeping in mind the limitations of this

result).

A/3 1

Ednvei~-—4-X\.6 MJ

(0e) t
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Here we found that the required driver energy scales as the inverse square of

the compression. Thus a premium is placed on achieving high fuel densities.

2.6.2. SELF-HEATING

A second important goal in inertial confinement fusion is to achieve fuel

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densities sufficient to trap an appreciable fraction of the high energy reaction

products. If this can be accomplished, then the reaction products will deposit
56 INERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

their energy in the fusion reaction zone, heating it to higher temperatures and

thereby increasing the fusion reaction rate. The requirement for efficient

thermonuclear burning is that the range of the charged particle reaction

products be only a small fraction of the dense fuel core. Then, once burning

starts, the reaction production energy deposition will quickly "bootstrap" heat

the core to high temperatures (20 to 80 keV) where the fusion reaction rate is

the greatest.29"31

The reaction products of the D-T reaction are 3.5-MeV alpha particles and

14.1-MeV neutrons. The ratio of the alpha particle range to the compressed

fuel radius R is given in terms of the electron temperature as27

1T~7 — <„xt\\ (7>keV) (2.50)

R (1 + 122/7;5/4) (pR)

The ratio of the range of 14.1-MeV neutrons to the fuel radius R is

At electron temperatures of 10 keV the neutron range is some 20 times that of

the alpha range, so to first order we will assume that only the alpha particle

self-heating needs to be treated. (We will examine the case of neutron self-

heating in Chapter 4.)

Of the alpha particle energy deposited in the fuel, a fraction

is deposited in the ions. In particular, for a temperature 7^=10 keV,/ = 0.24,

so that roughly 25% of the alpha particle energy will contribute to bootstrap-

ping the fuel temperature to higher values (and higher reaction rates).

Brueckner and Jorna21 have developed a simple model to estimate the effect

of alpha self-heating on fuel ignition and burn. If Wdep is the alpha particle

energy deposited in the fuel region, then the rate of energy deposition can be

equated to the increase in thermal energy of the fuel (assuming for the moment

temperature equilibration Te—Tt)

dE

dt

self-heating

4v*3 n2

-j--^(va)Wdcp

= (2.52)

dt 3 dt v '

The time available for heating and fusion is again determined by the disassem-

bly time. If the temperature were uniform, we could use rd~R/cs. However in
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INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION BURN PHYSICS

57

this case we must take into account the temperature dependence of the speed

of sound, cs = v0(YT),/2. If we change variables from time t to /?(/), where

dR/dt is identified as the sound velocity c,, then we can integrate Eq. 2.52 as

T>f ndr=l / \w 2-53)

\2J0 JTo (vo)Wdcp

where T0 is the initial temperature and Tx is the temperature after a time

corresponding to the disassembly time. The thermal energy of the pellet just

prior to ignition is

£them,ai(0) = ^-3nArro

We can integrate the fusion reaction rate to find the total fusion energy

released as

4w/?3 W n

„ / , W ft

£fusion(0 = —3— -4 J n2(va)dt'

Therefore we can identify

£fusion _ W_ (' , w„ W fT, dT .....

To complete this calculation, we must estimate the alpha particle energy

deposition Wdep. Brueckner and Jorna use a simple interpolation

where Wa = 3.5 MeV and Xa is the range of the alpha particle. They have

calculated the integrals in Eq. 2.54 to determine the ratio £fusion/£'lhermai(0) f°r

various driver energies. Appreciable self-heating can lead to a very significant

decrease in required driver energies. For example, a self-heating ratio of

£fusion/£thcrmai(0)= ^ would reduce the required driver energy by a factor of

400 over that for an uncompressed pellet, since the driver only has to provide

the relatively small energy for ignition.

The optimum energy for ignition depends on several factors. For example,

bremsstrahlung radiation is a serious loss mechanism for low temperatures.

Below 4 keV, the bremsstrahlung energy loss rate is some four times that of the

alpha particle heating rate. The condition for pellet transparency to brems-

strahlung radiation is given by23

n2/?<6.43Xl047(>7-)7/2cm 5 (2.56)
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58 INERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

If we use the disassembly time rd=R/cs, we find this implies a condition on

compressions of

V= — <7.75X 104 -=r^

' thermal

(o)

(2.57)

Hence for compressions of 103 to 104 and values of £fusion/£thermai(0) of 100 to

1000, the fuel becomes opaque to bremsstrahlung radiation, and ignition can

occur for temperatures T0 less than 4 keV. For large self-heating ratios, the

optimum ignition temperature is about 2 keV.

2.6.3. THERMONUCLEAR BURN PROPAGATION

Fuel compression and alpha particle self-heating are insufficient in themselves

to achieve the very high gains required of ICF targets. In addition, the fuel

target must be designed to take advantage of the process of thermonuclear

burn propagation. Here the general idea is to use shock compression to induce

central ignition of the fuel, that is, to ignite a central "spark" surrounded by

cold fuel below the ignition temperature. As the spark burns it becomes

transparent to the reaction products, and they stream out and rapidly heat

adjacent fuel material to ignition temperatures. In this way one can ignite a

spherically expanding burn wave which propagates outward, leading to com-

plete ignition of the compressed pellet core. The propagation of such an

expanding thermonuclear burn wave through a spherical target is shown in the

computer simulation results plotted in Figure 2.8.20

Energy transfer from the burning central region to the adjacent cold fuel can

occur through three mechanisms21: (1) hydrodynamic energy transfer (due to

rapid pressure buildup in the burning region), (2) electron thermal conduction

from the hot burning region to the cold fuel material, and (3) energy deposition

by escaping reaction products (alphas, neutrons, and X rays). Usually the

propagation of the burn front is highly supersonic, so that hydrodynamic

energy transfer (1) is not a dominant effect.

Since hydrodynamic effects are only of secondary importance in the propa-

gation of the burn wave, Brueckner and Jorna modeled this phenomenon by

ignoring hydrodynamic motion and determined the rate of advance of the burn

wave based on energy conservation. First they noted that if the central spark

region is characterized by a density n0 and a radius /-, one can write the rate of

energy production in the uniform central region

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(where the neutron energy deposition is ignored). The rate of change of the

internal energy in the expanding region can be calculated as

- (^r3n0kT0) = Ur'n0kt0 + 4nnor2kT0r

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INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION BURN PHYSICS

59

-11

1111111

1111-

PR â– 3 g/cm2

25.9ps

2l.7p*

=13.9 ps

iimi

t=0

i i i 11 ii| l l ll i in

i ii mil i i i i mil

11

lllliii

lllll

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

RADIUS (>im)

Figure 2.8. The propagation of a thermonuclear burn wave outwards through a fuel

core heated to 10 keV. (Courtesy of the University of Wisconsin Fusion Engineering

Program.)

Equating these two energy expressions will yield an equation for the radius of

the burning region r.

The temperature of the burning region, T0, will increase until the alpha particle

range \a becomes large enough to allow alphas to escape into the surrounding

fuel. That is, the burn region temperature T0 will adjust itself so that \a~r,

r„3/2

r~*a=Ao-9— (for ro>40 keV)

Hn

Hence one can write

r0~3 r

But we recall that the speed of sound is given by cs = v0Tl/2. Hence we can

calculate

burning front speed _ f \0

speed of sound cs ' °44t>0

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60

INERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

For temperatures kT0> 15 keV, r/cs>2, that is, the propagation of the burn

front is supersonic in the cold fuel material.

If we return to the self-heating equation 2.54, we can estimate the required

driver energy for ignition. We will take kT\ =4 keV and kT0—2 keV. Then the

initial thermal energy required for central ignition is found to be

£*c™al = *™o'"3*To = 7.99X10V kJ

The minimum energy of the cold fuel is its degeneracy energy (that is, the

energy due to the repulsion of the degenerate electrons):

--degeneracy

= \irtfn0ed = 80.5/?y/3 kJ

where we have taken the individual degeneracy energy per electron as edeg =

2.68tj2/3 eV per electron. After ignition, the fuel will burn at 40 to 150 keV. If

fuel depletion is accounted for by solving

for

dt

n{t)

dn _ n2

= --T(«a>

we find a fusion energy yield of

-^R*"4 ^fusion

1 + K©c>n0/

(2.59)

Figure 2.9. Analytical estimates of the fusion energy production in cold D-T fuel

ignited by a spherically propagating burn wave. (After Brueckner and Jorna, Ref. 21.)
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INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION BURN PHYSICS 61

Compression ( X liquid density)

Figure 2.10. Estimates of target gain versus compression based on early versions of

the LASNEX code. (After Emmett et al., Ref. 19.)

If we take t to be the disassembly time rd=R/cs and furthermore assume that

burning occurs at 80 keV, we find

_ 1.75X10V/?4

^fusion 1+0.00648/? i}

Brueckner and Jorna21 used this expression to calculate the fuel gain Gf=

£fusion/£0 for various ignition energies E0 and compressions i). These results

are plotted in Figure 2.9. Similar estimates based on LASNEX computer

calculations at Livermore32 are given in Figure 2.10. These results suggest that

very large fuel gains are possible if burn propagation occurs.

2.6.4. SOM E FU RTHER COMMENTS

Hence the key ingredients in achieving high ICF target gain are compression,

self-heating, and thermonuclear burn propagation. The trick is to bring the fuel

to very high density, but in such a way that only the central region is heated to

ignition temperatures. Then self-heating and burn propagation will ignite the

remainder of the fuel material.

High compressions will require a high implosion velocity of the material

surrounding the fuel region. To be more precise, if the ignition temperature of

the fuel is taken as 3 keV, then the thermal velocity of ions in the fuel is

v1h=(kTi/mi)i/2 = 3.3Xl01 cm/s. If we take this as a rough measure of the

required implosion velocity, then we find a rough estimate of the required

implosion energy31 for a 1-mg target as

£.mp= Jm»tmp~ 2/Wt;lh = 45 kJ

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62

INERTMLLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

10"

30% burn

10"

Reactor (40% thermal eff., 25% recirculating)

Compression (x liquid density)

Figure 2.11. The energy densities required to achieve fuel ignition for various com-

pressions. (After Nuckolls et al., Ref. 22.)

A second important consideration in achieving high gain is to compress the

fuel in such a way that one avoids heating the fuel material—that is, isentropi-

cally. As we will show in the next chapter, the minimum work required for the

compression of fuel can be estimated by using the ideal gas relationship for

adiabatic compression, pVy=constant, to find

For example, the work required to compress a 1-mg target through a volume

change of 1000, assuming the fuel starts at a temperature of 7, = 1 eV, is only

6 kJ.

We have summarized these discussions in Figure 2.11, which indicates the

energy densities required to achieve fuel ignition for various compressions.

1. R. F. Post. "Controlled Fusion Research: An Application of the Physics of High Tempera-

ture Plasmas." Rev. Mod. Phys. 28, 338 (1956).

2. D. J. Rose and M. Clark. Plasmas and Controlled Fusion (New York, MIT Press-Wiley,

1961).

3. W. Stacey, Magnetic Fusion Physics (New York. Wiley-Interscience, 1981).

REFERENCES
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REFERENCES

63

4. J. Rand McNally. Jr.. K. E. Rothe, and R. D. Sharp, "Fusion Reactivity Graphs and Tables

for Charged Particle Reactions," Oak Ridge National Laboratory Report ORNL TM-6914,

August, 1979.

5. J. L. Tuck, "Thermonuclear Reaction Rates," Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Report

LAMS-1640 (March, 1954).

6. W. B. Thompson, "Thermonuclear Reaction Rates," Harwell Laboratory Report AERE-

T/M-138 (May, 1956).

7. W. B. Thompson, "Thermonuclear Reaction Rates," Proc. Phys. Soc. 70B, 1 (1957).

8. N. Jarmie and J. D. Seagrave, eds., "Charged Particle Cross Sections," Los Alamos Scientific

Laboratory Report LA-2014 (March, 1956).

9. S. L. Greene, Jr., "Maxwell Averaged Cross Sections for Some Thermonuclear Reactions on

Light Isotopes," Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-70522 (May, 1967).

10. J. Rand McNally, Jr., and R. D. Sharp, "Advance Fuels for Inertial Confinement Fusion,"

Nucl. Fusion 16, 868 (1976).

11. G. W. Shuy, "Advanced Fusion Fuel Cycles and Fusion Reaction Kinetics," University of

Wisconsin Fusion Project Report UWFDM-335 (December, 1979).

12. R. W. Conn and G. W. Shuy, "Alternate Fusion Fuel Cycle Research," presented at the 8th

Int. Conf. on Plasma Phys. and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research, Brussels, 1980.

13. M. Gordinier and R. Conn. University of Wisconsin Fusion Project, October, 1976.

14. J. D. Lawson, "Some Criteria for a Power Producing Thermonuclear Reactor," Proc. Phys.

Soc. London B70, 6 (1957).

15. K. Boyer, "Laser Fusion," Aero, and Astro. 28 (July, 1973).

16. R. E. Kidder, "Lectures on Inertial Confinement Fusion: The Inside Story," presented at the

AUA-ANL Faculty Workshop on Inertial Confinement Fusion, Argonne National Labora-

tory (1978).

17. R. Grande, "Laser Driven Fusion," Les Hoches Lectures on Strongly Coupled Plasmas

(1980).

18. E. Teller. "A Future ICE (Thermonuclear, That Is!)," IEEE Spectrum 60 (January, 1973).

19. J. L. Emmett, J. Nuckolls, and L. Wood, "Fusion Power by Laser Implosion," Sci. Am. 231,

24 (June. 1974).

20. G. A. Moses, R. W. Conn, and S. I. Abdel-Khalik, "The SOLASE Conceptual Laser Fusion

Reactor Study," Proc. Third Topical Meeting on the Technology of Controlled Nuclear Fusion,

Santa Fe, NM(1978).

21. K. Brueckner and S. Jorna, "Laser Driven Fusion," Rev. Mod. Phys. 46, 325 (1974).

22. J. Nuckolls, J. L. Emmett, and L. Wood. "Laser Induced Thermonuclear Fusion." Physics
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Today 46 (August, 1976).

23. K. A. Brueckner. "Introduction to Laser Driven Fusion," Energy, Vol. 3, Nuclear Energy and

Energy Policies, Chap. 23, ed. by S. S. Penner (Reading, Mass., Addison-Wesley, 1976), p.

349.
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24. K. A. Brueckner, "An Assessment of Drivers and Reactors for Inertial Confinement Fusion,"

K. A. Brueckner Associates, prepared for the Electric Power Research Institute, Report

EPRI-AP-1371 (1980).

25. Laser Program Annual Reports, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-50021 (1976).

26. Ya. B. Zel'dovich and Yu. P. Raizer, Physics of Shock Waves and High-Temperature

Hydrodynamic Phenomena (New York, Academic, 1966).

27. G. S. Fraley, E. J. Linnebur, R. J. Mason, and R. L. Morse, "Thermonuclear Burn

Characteristics of Compressed Deuterium-Tritium Microspheres," Phys. Fluids 17,474 (1974).

28. H. Brysk, "Electron-Ion Equilibration in a Partially Degenerate Plasma," Plasma Phys. 16,

927 (1974).
64

INERTIALLY CONFINED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION REACTIONS

29. D. B. Henderson. "Burn Characteristics of Marginal Deuterium-Tritium Microspheres,"

Phys. Rev. Lett. 33, (1974).

30. G. D. Beynon and G. Constantine, "A Study of Fusion-Neutron Heating in Laser-Compressed

Deuterium-Tritium Spheres," J. Phys. G3, 81 (1977).

31. R. J. Mason and R. L. Morse, "Hydrodynamics and Bum of Optimally Imploded Deuterium-

Tritium Spheres." Phys. Fluids 18. 814 (1975).

32. Laser Program Annual Reports, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-50021 (1977),
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THREE

The Physics of

Hydrodynamic Compression

The primary objective in inertial confinement fusion is to compress the fuel

pellet in such a way that only a central region of the compressed fuel mass is

brought to ignition temperatures, leaving the rest of the compressed pellet as

cold as possible. In this way one can ignite a central spark that propagates

through the compressed fuel mass as a thermonuclear burn wave. This ap-

proach minimizes driver energy requirements by using the driver only to

compress the fuel to densities sufficient for ignition and efficient thermo-

nuclear burn.

The essential processes involved in this scheme are shown in Figure 3.1.1,2

The driver energy is deposited in the outer layers of the fuel pellet (perhaps

even in the outer layers of the plasma corona surrounding the pellet). This

energy is then transported inward to the ablation surface by mechanisms such

as electron thermal conduction where it heats the surface material, ablating it

outward. This ablation process produces large pressures that drive imploding

shock waves into the pellet, compressing the fuel to very high densities in such

a manner as to avoid premature fuel heating (isentropic compression). In this

way the minimum amount of work is required to achieve fuel conditions

necessary for efficient thermonuclear burn. At peak compression, the central

region of the compressed fuel mass is brought to ignition temperature by the

converging shock waves. A thermonuclear burn wave is produced that propa-

gates outward, consuming the cold compressed fuel material and releasing

thermonuclear energy.

To achieve this energy-efficient thermonuclear burn, we place two require-

ments on the hydrodynamic implosion process: first, we must isentropically

compress the fuel core to pR values greater than 1 g/cm2, second, we must

implode the fuel in such a way that the shock strength at the center is great

65
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THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

Shock Driver energy deposition

Figure 3.1. The physical processes involved in ICF target implosion.

enough to heat and ignite a central spark or hot-spot of fuel when the shock

waves reflect at the origin.

We examine each of the important physical processes involved in this

approach to inertial confinement fusion, working backward from the compres-

sion of the fuel material to optimum inertial confinement fusion burn condi-

tions (pR>l), to the generation of pressures by ablation, to energy transport,

and finally to the deposition of driver energy at the outer surface of the pellet.

More specifically, our sequence of considerations is as follows:

1. Isentropic compression by convergent shock waves.

2. Equations of state for highly compressed matter.

3. Ablation-generated pressures.

4. Energy transport in plasmas.

5. Driver energy deposition.

We begin with a discussion of the physics of the hydrodynamic compression of

matter.

3.1. PLASMA HYDRODYNAMICS

We begin by briefly reviewing the hydrodynamics of a single-species fluid such

as a gas. We will characterize the state of the fluid by three hydrodynamic

variables:

mass density: p(r, /) = mn (r, t)

local fluid velocity: u(r, t)

temperature: ^(r, /)

We can implement the laws of conservation of mass, momentum, and energy

to write 3"5:

-g^ + V - pu = 0 (mass)

p(Jy+u-vju-^F=-VP (momentum) (3.1)

pct,(-|-+u v)r=-v-q-P: A (energy)

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PLASMA HYDRODYNAMICS

67

where

P=pressure tensor

A-J 2\dx/dXi)

q = heat flux density

These equations can be derived in a number of ways, including control volume

arguments or by taking moments of the Boltzmann equation.6,7 Although they

are exact, they are incomplete as they stand since the pressure tensor and heat

flux are as yet unspecified. To close the equations, it is customary to introduce

the usual approximate transport laws:

Stokes law of viscosity:

P^I-2^(A-flVu) (3.2)

where p is the local hydrostatic pressure, p=p(k/m)T, and n is the shear

viscosity.

Fourier,s law of thermal conduction:

q=-KVT (3.3)

where k is the thermal conductivity.

The hydrodynamics equations characterizing the fluid can be written as:

| + Vp«=0

p(^+u-v)u-^F=-Vp + jVMV-u+/tV2u (3.4)

pc„( jjy+u-v)7,= -p(vu)r+ V kVT

These are sometimes referred to as the Navier-Stokes equations.

Thus far we have confined our attention to a single-species gas. But a plasma

must often be modeled as a two-component fluid, accounting for the dynamics

of both the ions and electrons.8 In this case we would choose six hydrodynamic

variables:

p^p^u^u,,^,^

Therefore we might expect to need six hydrodynamics equations. Furthermore,

we now have the added complication of the electric and magnetic fields
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THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

associated with the long-range Coulomb interaction of the electrons and ions.

Hence to these six hydrodynamics equations we must also add Maxwell's

equations, which self-consistently describe electromagnetic forces on the fluids.

Such an extended set of hydrodynamics equations is rather complex.9

Fortunately for most inertial confinement fusion applications, we can sim-

plify somewhat this set of equations for a plasma by first recognizing that over

the length scales of most concern, there is no charge separation.10 More

precisely, we can ignore charge separation if the ratio of the Debye length to

the electron mean free path is much less than one:

Here we have defined"

In inertial confinement fusion applications, this ratio typically ranges from

10"3 (for ne~ 10 23 and kTe~ 1 keV) to 0.03 (for ne~ 1027 and kT~ 1 keV).

The fact that the Debye length is much shorter than the mean free path (and

hence hydrodynamic length scales in ICF plasmas) allows us to eliminate the

force term pF/m and avoid the need to solve Maxwell's equations along with

the hydrodynamics equations. (It should be noted that this approximation can

frequently be relaxed by computing the transport coefficients that appear in

the hydrodynamics equations in such a way that accounts for electric or

magnetic field effects.)12

The short Debye length also allows us to assume that electron fluid and ion

fluid charge densities and velocities are equal,

that is, the plasma behaves as a "single fluid" rather than as a mixture of two

fluids. However in most cases the time scales of interest are much shorter than

the electron-ion temperature equilibration times (although usually larger than

the electron or ion self-equilibration times):

\ee=electron mean free path =

(3kTe)2

8(0.714)â„¢fe2ln A

ee it ' 'ei

Hence we must characterize each of the components of the plasma fluid by a

different temperature. Te^T{.

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PLASMA HYDRODYNAMICS

69

Therefore the model most frequently used to describe the hydrodynamics of

an inertial confinement fusion plasma is a single-fluid, two-temperature de-

scription in which

»=n,(l+Z)

p = n(ml + Zme)

ut = ue = u

P=p,+pe

TÂ¥=T

Several other remarks are in order before we write down the full set of the

hydrodynamics equations for an inertial confinement fusion plasma. First, we

note that because of the large mass difference between the electrons and the

ions, mi»mc, the ions are responsible for momentum transport (and hence

viscosity) while the electrons are responsible for energy transport (and hence

thermal conduction) in the plasma.913 In mathematical terms,

3m, du,

97; dT . .

Furthermore, the very high thermal conductivity in a plasma leads to a Prandtl

number, Pr=/ic;i/K~0.065, which is very small. That is, inertial confinement

fusion plasmas are nearly inviscid.

The single-fluid, two-temperature hydrodynamics equations used to describe

an inertial confinement fusion plasma can now be written as

p(^+u-v)u--^F=-V^+iVM,V-u + M,V2u

(97* \

-^-+uV}T = VKeVTe-pe(vu)-uei(Te-Ti) + Se

P cv, (^ + u - V) 7]. = V k ,. v T, - p, (V u) + u,, (Te - T,) + S, (3.6)

It is this set of equations that is normally solved in the target design computer

codes discussed in Chapters 6 and 9. The two-temperature nature of these

equations is most important in those regions of the pellet where the driver

energy is deposited and in the electron thermal conduction region—that is, in

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70

THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

the corona or ablation regions. Here the electron and ion temperatures are

likely to be only weakly coupled.

Fortunately, in the cold, compressed plasma core of primary concern in this

chapter, the electron-ion equilibration time is still very short, being comparable

to 10"12 s. So for the purposes of the following discussion, it is appropriate to

use the single-species fluid model of the plasma.

It is with this restricted viewpoint that we now consider in some detail the

processes involved in imploding fuel pellets to very high densities.

The compression of the fuel in an ICF target is driven by the ablation of the

target surface using driver energy deposition. The velocity of the material

ablating off of the surface is determined essentially by the local speed of sound

in the high temperature ablation region. But the speed of sound in the cold fuel

region ahead of the ablation front is quite low. Hence the inward motion of the

pellet surface due to ablation pressure is supersonic with respect to the cold

fuel material, and shock waves form. Such shock waves play an important role

in the ICF pellet implosion process. In this section we study the general

physics of shock wave propagation.4,14-19

3.2. SHOCK WAVES

Figure 3.2. Formation of a shock wave.

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SHOCK WAVES

71

When a large disturbance is suddenly introduced into a gas, say by the

rupture of a diaphragm maintaining a pressure differential in the gas or by a

rapid local deposition of energy, this disturbance will propagate into the

adjacent gas with roughly the local speed of sound cs. But the speed of sound is

proportional to the square root of the gas density, cs~p'/2. Hence regions of

the disturbance with higher densities will tend to propagate faster than those of

lower density, thereby causing the density perturbation to steepen into a sharp

wave front or shock wave propagating faster than the speed of sound in the

ambient gas ahead of the wave. (See Figure 3.2).

Mathematically, we can define a shock wave as any abrupt disturbance that

propagates through the gas, causing a change of state. The Euler equations for

an ideal fluid predict that such shock waves will propagate as a discontinuity

in p, «, and T. But dissipative phenomena such as viscosity and thermal

conduction will yield a finite shock wave thickness (although the shock

thickness is frequently on the order of the molecular mean free path).

To be more specific, we will consider the propagation of a plane (one-

dimensional) shock wave propagating from right to left in a medium with a

speed D. We will furthermore assume that the fluid ahead of and behind the

shock wave is in steady state, described by the state variables indicated in

Figure 3.3.

It is customary to take the flow velocity ahead of the shock to be zero. That

is, the ambient gas ahead of the shock wave is assumed to be at rest: «0=0.

Ahead

.o = °

(b)

P0

D - u,

Upstream

(intake,

ahead)

Downstream

(exhaust,

behind)
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Figure 33. Coordinate frames for shock wave analysis, (a) Fixed frame of reference.

{b) Frame of reference moving with shock wave.

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72

THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAM1C COMPRESSION

The gas behind the shock is then set into motion with a velocity u,. We are

usually given the density and pressure in the ambient gas ahead of the shock,

p0, p0, along with some measure of the shock wave strength such as its speed D

or the driving pressure behind it, />,. Our goal then is to determine the gas

properties after the shock wave has passed such as the density p, and the flow

velocity u,. Here it should be noted that one commonly introduces the Mach

number characterizing the shock wave, defined as the ratio of the shock speed

and the speed of sound in the ambient gas ahead of the shock:

M= — = Mach number

It should be apparent that, by definition, the Mach number characterizing the

shock wave is greater than one; the shock wave propagates supersonically into

the gas ahead.

To analyze the shock wave, it is convenient to shift to a coordinate frame

moving along with the shock (see Figure 3.3). In this frame the gas appears to

decelerate from a speed u,0 = D to a slower speed u\ — D — uv For that reason,

one refers to the gas ahead of and behind the shock wave as the "upstream"

and "downstream" shock regions or the "intake" and "exhaust" regions,

respectively. For convenience, we drop the primes from the notation for the

velocities u0 and u, in the coordinate frame moving with the shock wave.

We can easily determine the downstream variables by using the conservation

equations 3.1, written here in one-dimensional form (and setting viscosity and

thermal conductivity equal to zero, for the present at least):

!+£«"<>=°

Jj<P«) + £(/.+P«!)=0 (3.7)

Here we have found it convenient to introduce two new quantities:

specific internal energy — e = cvkT

specific enthalpy=h=e+ —

For steady-state flow we can ignore the time derivatives and integrate the

conservation equations across the shock to find

mass conservation: p0u0 = p,M,

momentum conservation: p0 + Pouo—p\ + PiM?

u2 u2

energy conservation: h0+ -y =h\ + -y (3.8)

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SHOCK WAVES

73

These equations are known as the Rankine-Hugoniot relations.41*'16-20 They are

quite general and exact (and can be derived from a number of different

perspectives, including simple physical arguments).

The Rankine-Hugoniot relations represent three equations for six un-

knowns: (p0, u0, p0) and (p,, u,, />,), since the specific enthalpy h is given in

terms of the density and pressure by an equation of state

^o-MPo. p0)

hx=h,{p„p,) (3.9)

We are presumably given the density and pressure in the undisturbed gas

ahead of the shock, p0 and p0. Furthermore we are frequently given the

"strength" of the shock in terms of the shock speed D = u0—m, or the driving

pressure px. (We will usually assume the latter situation since it most closely

approximates the situation of interest in ICF applications.) Therefore we have

three equations in three unknowns:

P0,p0,P\=>Puuuuo (31O)

To proceed further, we must assume some form of equation of state

characterizing the gas. For the moment we will leave this arbitrary and develop

a slightly different perspective of the shock propagation. We begin by solving

the Rankine-Hugoniot relations for the upstream and downstream velocities in

terms of the specific volumes V0 = l/p0 and K, = 1/p,:

but

±(ul-u2) = \(px-p0)(V0+Vi)

so that

^-h0 = 12(pi-p0)(K+^)

When combined with equations of state, this yields the pressure behind the

shock as a function of the pressure ahead of the shock and the specific

volumes:

Pj=H(Vup0,V0) (3.11)

This function relating />, to K, = l/p, is known as the shock Hugoniot* It is

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74

THE PHYSIC'S OF HYDRODY NAMIC COMPRESSION

/>

/>, = H{Vy, p0, VQ) Hugoniot curve

\ p = p{v. j) Adiabat

v.

Figure 3.4. A comparison of the shock Hugoniot and the adiabat for a gas.

most convenient to represent this function as a curve on the usual p-V diagram

familiar from thermodynamics (see Figure 3.4).

It should be noted at the outset that the shock Hugoniot differs significantly

from the p-V relation characterizing the reversible, adiabatic (or isentropic)

compression of a gas which behaves as pVy = constant. We recall that the area

under the p- V curve represents the work required to compress the fluid. Hence

the fact that the shock Hugoniot lies above the adiabat or isentrope*2in for

the gas implies that more work is required to compress a material by the

passage of a shock than would be required by an isentropic compression (that

follows the adiabatic curve). We will note later that this is evidence of the fact

that the propagation of a strong shock wave is not isentropic. Irreversible

processes such as viscosity and thermal conduction increase the internal energy

(i.e., temperature) of the shocked medium beyond the minimum energy neces-

sary to merely compress it. We will also demonstrate that the stronger the

shock wave, the more the shock Hugoniot will depart from the adiabat (the

more work required for compression by the shock—the more energy dis-

sipated).

Sometimes the shock Hugoniot is written in a slightly different form

where pK and eK are the pressure and specific internal energy as functions of

volume at 0 K. y is a parameter dependent only on volume and is known as the

Gruneisen ratio. This particular form of the Hugoniot, known as the Mie-

Griineisen equation of state, is very useful for studying the propagation of

shock waves in solids.

To make this discussion more explicit, let us consider the equation of state

for an ideal gas41416 (for the details involved in the derivation of this equation

p-pK=y(e-eK)
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SHOCK WAVES 75

of state, see Section 3.7). The ideal gas model is characterized by

(3.12)

Hence we can solve for

«o=tK*-1)/>o+(y+1)Pi]

12

[(y+1)/>o+(y-1)/>,]2

( Y-l)Po+(Y+l)/>I

In this way we can calculate the relationship between the upstream and

downstream variables:

p0

Pi =

Po

(y+i)p,-(y-i)p0

(y+i)p0-(y+i)p,

(y+1)/>, + (y-1)/>0

(y-1)/>, + (y+1)/>o

(3.13)

=1+

2y

(Y+ir

yA/02+i

A/02

(A/02-l)

Notice that if we substitute the specific volume into the pressure-density

relation, we find an explicit form for the shock Hugoniot in an ideal gas

Pi-Po

(Y+l)ko-(Y-l)^,

= H(Vl,p0,V0)

(y+i)k,-(y-i)k0

We can also calculate the upstream and downstream Mach numbers:

(3.14)

Mn =

(y-\) + (y+\)Px/p0

2y

(y-i) + (y+iW/>,

2y
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1/2

1/2

1 :/ n. j '/-

Pi,
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,-1 \ '/2

/ Y-l \ X,i

(V) (315)

As we might expect, M0> 1 and A/, < 1 imply that the motion of the shock is
76

THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

supersonic into the material ahead of it and subsonic with respect to the gas

behind the shock.

The limiting form of the relations 3.13 between upstream and downstream

variables for very strong shock waves (p\/p0— oo) is particularly interesting:

El

po

El

Po

, 00

(y-l)M02 + 2

II P\

r0"(Y+i) po

Y+l

y-1

(3.16)

— oo

This dependence is shown in Figure 3.5. In particular, we note that while the

temperature and pressure rise across the shock will increase indefinitely with

the strength of the shock, the compression or density change approaches an

asymptotically limiting value of

po

Y+l

y-1

(3.17)

For an ideal monatomic gas, y = 3 - Hence we find the important result that the

maximum compression that can be achieved by a single plane shock wave in a

monatomic gas is 4.

We can also calculate the entropy change across the shock. If we define the

specific entropy s as

s=cvlnpp-y
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SHOCK WAVES

77

then the entropy change is

Aj=j,-j0=cl)ln

In particular, we note that the entropy increases as the logarithm of the shock

strength, p,/p0:

bs~cJnC— -oo

p0

(y-1)/>' + (>+»W

(Y+l)/>, + (Y-l)Po

(3.18)

(It should be noted that while we have not specifically included the effects of

viscosity and heat conduction in our analysis based on the Rankine-Hugoniot

relations, such dissipative behavior is still properly described by calculating the

change in the state of the gas as we have done. A specific inclusion of viscous

and thermal conduction effects would only affect the shock wave structure, not

the states of the gas ahead of and behind the shock.) We should also note that

in the limit of weak shock waves,

as —-1

p0

that is, the propagating disturbance tends to the limiting case of an isentropic

acoustic (sound) wave.

With this background, let us return to our diagram of the shock Hugoniot

(Figure 3.4) and address the question of how we might use shock waves to

isentropically compress thermonuclear fuel to high density while leaving it

relatively cold. Since weak shock waves approach an isentropic sound wave, we

might attempt to use a series of many weak shocks to approach isentropic

compression. This approach is shown in detail in the p- V diagram of Figure

3.6, in which a series of multiple shocks are used to approximate the adiabat

and isentropically compress the fuel to a much higher density for the same

final pressure (and therefore requiring far less p-V work than would be

required by a single shock wave).

From a somewhat different point of view, we recall that the maximum

compression achievable by a single plane shock wave in a monatomic gas is 4.

Therefore, by subjecting the shocked gas to a second shock wave, we can

increase the density by a factor of 4X4=16. We can continue on in this

fashion to multiple-shock the fuel to higher and higher density.4

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But as we noted earlier, the compression of a gas using a strong shock is

highly nonisentropic and therefore rather inefficient. Our analysis suggests that

blasting a fuel pellet with arbitrarily large pulses of energy, thereby driving

strong shock waves through it, will not serve to efficiently compress the fuel.
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However these shocks will increase the temperature of the fuel to arbitrarily

large values—provided enough driver energy is available. Hence it appears

78 THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

vg Figure 3.6. Multiple shock compression.

that simple shock compression might be used in part to meet the ignition

temperature conditions for efficient thermonuclear burn, even though the

required compressions of 1000 to 10,000 times liquid density cannot be

achieved in this manner.

Although the general features of shock waves are illustrated by our study of

plane shock wave propagation, there are some important differences that arise

in the propagation of shock waves in convergent geometries. Hence we now

turn our attention to a study of the implosion of a spherically convergent

shock wave, which is the phenomenon of most interest in inertial confinement

fusion applications.

3.3. SPHERICALLY CONVERGENT SHOCK WAVES

A key idea in the use of shock waves to compress inertial confinement fusion

fuel pellets is to use the convergence properties of a spherical implosion to

multiply the driving pressure and hence the compression. The earliest analysis

of this phenomenon was performed by Guderley,21 who considered a self-similar

solution of the Euler equations for a spherically convergent shock wave in an

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SPHERIC ALLY CONVERGENT SHOCK WAVES

79

ideal gas. Before discussing Guderley,s solution, it is useful to provide a brief

introduction to the concept of self-similar solutions in hydrodynamics.

In fluid dynamics one frequently finds that the fluid variables p(x, l),

u(x, t), and T(x, t) become a function of a combination of space and time, say

This corresponds in essence to a frozen picture of the flow. That is, all

distributions with respect to x change with time without changing form; they

remain "similar" to themselves.

The type of flow in which the distributions of flow variables remain similar

to themselves with time and vary only as a result of changes of scale is called

self-similar.2*2* The most common case is a= — 1, that is

The reason for this behavior lies in the fact that the Euler equations contain no

characteristic length or time scales. (Indeed the only length and time scales in a

gas are the mean free path and the collision time, which are related to viscosity

and thermal conductivity.) The only dimensional parameter is the speed of

sound, cs. Hence the flow can depend only on the combination x/l.

The mathematical importance of self-similar flow is that it reduces the usual

partial differential equations describing hydrodynamics to ordinary differential

equations. These ordinary differential equations can then be studied (and

perhaps even integrated) to determine the hydrodynamic behavior.

Guderley obtained a self-similar solution of the Euler equations describing a

spherically convergent geometry in terms of reduced variables related to the

radius-time diagram of the shock front shown in Figure 3.7. He found a

solution for the shock radius rs(t) of the form

p(x,t),u(x,t),T(x,t)->fcn(xta)

(3.19)

rsMA

Figure 3.7. The radius-time diagram

for an imploding spherical shock front.

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80

THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

where the time tc corresponds to convergence of the shock at the center. Here,

a = 0.717 for a monatomic gas (7=3) and 5 is a measure of shock strength.

Of more interest, however, was the state of the gas behind the converging

shock wave. Guderley found that the passage of a converging shock gives a

density increase or compression of 4 (for a gas with y= f), just as for a plane

shock wave. However, this is followed in the spherically convergent case by an

adiabatic compression to a total compression of about 15. The shock wave is

then reflected at the center, and upon returning gives a further shock compres-

sion to 33. In summary, then, Guderley found that the maximum compression

from a single convergent shock wave was 33.

Therefore one approach to achieving the ultra-high density conditions

necessary for efficient thermonuclear burn would be to deposit energy uni-

formly on the surface of the fuel pellet in such a way as to produce a strong,

convergent shock wave. Brueckner and Jorna2 have analyzed this situation and

predict a driver energy requirement of

M3

driver =1-6 — V2 MJ (3.20)

where we recall that tj is the desired compression, M is the fusion energy

multiplication or gain, and eD is the driver-coupling efficiency. Surprisingly

enough, this result indicates that the compression of the fuel by a strong

convergent shock wave does not appreciably reduce the required driver energy.

A more detailed analysis indicates that the effect of compression is offset by an

inefficient temperature distribution produced by the passage of the strong

shock which reduces fusion energy production in most of the fuel. The

compressed pellet core which is strongly heated is too small, and the compres-

sion time is too short to produce an appreciable fusion energy yield.2 More

detailed computer calculations indicate that the required driver energy for

breakeven using single shock compression is roughly 500 MJ. This is far too

large for any conceivable driver.

3.4. ISENTROPIC COMPRESSION

The key to achieving the very high fuel densities necessary for efficient

thermonuclear burn is to compress the pellet isentropically in such a way that

heating of the dense fuel core is minimized so that the minimum compression

energy is required. This can be accomplished by producing a sequence of shock

waves that approach the adiabatic curve of compression in the p-V diagram of
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the fuel. Such isentropic compression requires a gradually rising pressure on

the surface of the pellet which generates a sequence of shock waves of

increasing strength which are adjusted in time so that successive shocks do not

overtake each other before arriving at the center of the pellet.

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More precisely, the compression and temperature history of the fuel after the

passage of the first shock follow (approximately) an adiabat until the shock
ISENTROPIC COMPRESSION 81

reaches the center, where its kinetic energy is converted into internal energy

(temperature) and a reflected shock forms. The final temperature is determined

by the initial shock strength. To avoid excessive preheating, we want to reach

only the minimum temperature required for ignition. Then the achievable

compression is limited only by the degeneracy pressure of the electrons or by

the ignition of the fuel before maximum compression has been achieved.

Perhaps the simplest model of this process is obtained by assuming we can

achieve perfectly isentropic compression by compressing the fuel along an

adiabat. In this case, thermodynamics can tell us the energy required for

compression. When a gas undergoes an isentropic compression, we first recall

that

pVy=constant

where y = cp/cv. From this relationship, we immediately find that the states

before and after compression are related by

or

hence

If we model the compression process using a piston analogy, we find that the

work done on the fuel during the isentropic compression is

W,^2= f2p dV= constant (2V"ydV

J\ J\

_ p2V2-pivi nk

1-Y i-y

For example, suppose we take a pellet mass of 1 mg, an initial temperature of

r, = 1 eV, and a volume compression ratio of V\/V2=\000. Then for y = f, we

find the required work is W = 5.9 kJ. That is, the amount of work required to

compress a milligram of D—T fuel to 1000 times its liquid density can be as

low as 6 kJ.

Of course the actual driver energy required will be considerably larger, not

only because it is impossible to achieve a perfectly isentropic compression but

^ -1

(3.21)
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82

THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAM1C COMPRESSION

also because most of the driver energy (95%) is expended in producing the

driving pressure (via ablation). One can reduce the compression requirements

by using spherical shell targets. The shell stores kinetic energy during the

implosion and then produces the necessary temperatures and pressures in the

fuel by energy transfer upon convergence. One can also use a shell of D-T

fuel inside a tamper shell of massive material. We study several of these more

sophisticated target designs in some detail in Chapter 9.

Kidder26"28 has developed a theory of isentropic compression of shells using

self-similarity concepts. Such a theory indicates that it is possible to compress

an ideal gas to arbitrarily large compressions with a pressure-time profile of the

form

p(r)

po

-F(r) =

(l-r2)5/2

(3.22)

where

r=l/tc

3c2

20

These parameters are defined in terms of the shell geometry in Figure 3.8.

Figure 3.8. Parameters characterizing the isentropic implosion of a spherical shell.

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SHOCK WAVE PROPAGATION IN PLASMAS

83

In practice, we want to bring the fuel to ignition temperatures during the

latter stages of compression. To this end, we might vary the pressure profile

just prior to shock convergence to deviate from isentropic compression. Kidder

proposes a pressure-time profile of

P(r)

p0

F(r),

F(Tfl)exp

5t,

(t-t.)

T>T.

(3.23)

where ra=ta/tc and is usually about 0.9. His analysis indicates that roughly

one sixth of the original pellet mass can be compressed by a factor of 10,000.

3.5. SHOCK WAVE PROPAGATION IN PLASMAS

Thus far we have analyzed the propagation of a shock wave in a single-

component gas. However a thermonuclear plasma is in fact a two-component

gas with a dramatic difference in the mass of each species (electrons versus

ions). This leads to a complex shock structure.913,29

To be more precise, we have shown in Figure 3.9 the shock wave structures

for a plane shock wave in an ideal gas (described as a sharp discontinuity by

the Euler equations), a shock in a real gas (in which viscosity and thermal

conductivity broaden out the shock, providing a structure or shock thickness

several mean free paths in thickness), and a shock wave in a plasma. We can

understand the more complex structure of the shock wave in a plasma if we

recall that thermal conduction or energy transport is due to electrons, while

viscosity or momentum transport is due to the ions. If we assume a single-fluid,

two-temperature model, then the shock structure of the density profile is

determined essentially by the ions and therefore a thickness of the order of the

ion mean free path (See Figure 3.10).

However, the new feature is the role played by electron thermal conduction.

In the shock waves typical of inertial confinement fusion plasmas, the driver

energy is deposited in the electrons, resulting in an increase of electron

temperature behind the shock. But the very large thermal conductivity of the

electrons transports this thermal energy in a thermal conduction wave ahead of

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the shock. This electron conduction wave leads the ion shock structure by the

mean free path for electron-ion collisions.10 This thermal energy in the elec-

trons ahead of the shock is then transferred to the ions by electron-ion

collisons, resulting in the preheating of ions ahead of the shock wave. The ion
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temperature then rises through the shock wave from viscous heating and may

overshoot the electron temperature behind the shock. Eventually, far behind

the shock, the electron and ion temperatures will equilibrate.

The presence of a preheating "foot" ahead of the shock due to electron

thermal conduction is a very important phenomenon since it reduces the

strength and therefore the compression of the plasma shock wave. Another
(r)

Figure 3.9. Comparison of shock wave propagation in gases and plasmas, (a) shock

wave in an ideal gas. (b) Shock wave in a real gas. (c) Shock wave in a plasma.

|*_j!!ix_4i x 4- -I

Figure 3.10. The structure of a shock wave in a plasma.

84
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HYDRODYNAMIC STABILITY OF THE IMPLOSION PROCESS

85

interesting feature of plasma shock waves is the presence of two Mach

numbers, one characterizing ion flow (which is essentially the Mach number of

the shock)

M2= 2m,uf+{meu2e m,u}

y,kTt + yekTe 2y,kT,

and another, Me, characterizing electron flow

Since M~(mi/mef/2Me, the electron flow will remain subsonic in the shock

even for very large Mach numbers, M<30.

3.6. HYDRODYNAMIC STABILITY OF THE

IMPLOSION PROCESS

In the inertial confinement fusion implosion process, the general approach is to

use ablation-generated pressures to compress the fuel to high density. In effect,

we are attempting to accelerate a dense fluid (the cold fuel) by pushing against

it with a lighter fluid (the ablating surface material). This is an unstable

hydrodynamic configuration and may lead to the classical Rayleigh-Taylor

instability.30"33

Perhaps an analogy will make this more apparent. Suppose we try to float a

layer of water on top of a layer of lighter fluid such as oil. If we are very

careful, we can prepare two such fluid layers in a container. However the

slightest disturbance will trigger surface oscillations that will grow until globs

of oil begin to pass through the water to the surface under buoyancy forces

(gravity).

The pellet implosion scheme may also be subject to a thermal phenomenon

known as the Benard instability.2 This instability arises when a heated fluid is

pushing against a colder fluid. A familiar example would be the convection

cells that appear in cloud formation processes in the atmosphere. The high

temperature ablation front pushing against the cold fuel in an ICF implosion

might also be subject to such instabilities.

The early analysis of such hydrodynamic instabilities proceeded by lineariz-

ing the hydrodynamics equations characterizing the fuel motion and then

examining the stability of normal mode expansions of disturbances as de-

scribed by these linearized equations.34 These studies suggested that the Benard

instability would not be present, while the Rayleigh-Taylor instability would be

mitigated by the ablation process. In particular, it was felt that the ablation
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process would convect instabilities away from the ablation surface before they

could grow to large amplitudes. Such analysis was supported by early implo-

sion experiments on glass microballoons.

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86

THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

However, more recent studies have recognized that such microballoon

targets behave in an "exploding pusher" mode rather than an isentropic

ablation mode. In these implosions the shell target is heated isothermally very

rapidly. The shell explodes, both inward and outward, thereby driving the fuel

ahead of it to high density. This nonisentropic implosion process is now felt to

be less subject to Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities than true ablatively driven

implosions.

Targets designed for ablative implosions typically consist of shells of varying

composition to improve driver beam absorption, energy transport, and implo-

sion. In the pellet implosion process, the acceleration force can cause the

boundary between the heavier tamper shell and the lighter fuel to become

Rayleigh-Taylor unstable. This is most important when the fuel and tamper

begin to decelerate as the fuel reaches its final stages of compression just prior

to ignition. At this point the large inertial force of the heavy tamper material

can result in jets of high Z material streaming into the fuel. This can destroy

the ignition process much in the same way that high Z impurities are detrimen-

tal to magnetic fusion plasmas. Even if ignition does occur, this mixing of

impurities with the fuel can degrade the efficiency of the thermonuclear burn

(i.e., fractional burnup). This, in turn, affects the yield and gain of the target in

an adverse fashion.

It is felt by some that the Rayleigh-Taylor instability problem will seriously

limit the allowable aspect ratio (radius to thickness, R/AR) of the target

shells.35"38 Very thin-walled targets tend to be more susceptible to the instabili-

ties. The linear growth of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities can be modeled as

A = A0e"

where the growth rate parameter y is given by

y= (aka)\/2

a=B\Z£i

P1+P2

a = acceleration

Hence the instability grows most rapidly for large density differences at shell

interfaces, for large accelerations, and for short wavelength disturbances.

However very short wavelength disturbances quickly grow out of the linear

instability regime and cannot be considered using this model. In fact it is

found that the most serious wavelengths are those that are about equal to the
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shell thickness, for these do not saturate before becoming disruptive and.

according to this model, these modes have the most rapid growth rate.
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EQUATIONS OF STATE

87

However, care must be taken when using such simple linear models of

instability growth. Without the inclusion of dissipative effects such as thermal

conduction and viscosity, they can be misleading.

Fluid instabilities are an extremely important aspect of the implosion

process and cannot be ignored in ICF target design. Their presence (or

absence) remains a crucial unanswered question in inertial confinement fusion

research.

3.7 EQUATIONS OF STATE

The analysis of the ICF pellet implosion process requires some knowledge of

the behavior of matter under extreme conditions of density, temperature, and

pressure. Of most interest is the equation of state for highly compressed

matter, commonly written in the form

p=p(p,T)

In simple models of the implosion process, the fuel is sometimes modeled as an

ideal gas. However, the detailed understanding and design of ICF targets

requires a more accurate description of the equation of state, including both

collision processes and quantum effects.

We are commonly used to thinking of the properties of matter in terms of

the familiar (although complex) states of solids, liquids, and gases. However, at

high temperatures ionization and radiation processes become important. Fur-

thermore, at the very high densities characterizing imploded ICF fuels, the

electron de Broglie wavelengths become comparable to interparticle spacing,

and quantum effects become very important. We can roughly classify the

various states of matter on a density-temperature diagram as shown in Figure

3.11.6, 39 The regions of most interest in ICF applications are shaded.

We begin our discussion of equation of state models by reviewing perfect gas

models, including the particularly simple case of an ideal gas with only

translational degrees of freedom. Not only do such models serve as a point of

reference for more complex models, but they are also occasionally used in the

analyses of the ICF implosion process. We will then turn our attention to a

brief discussion of more complex models in which particle interactions are

included such as the Thomas-Fermi-Dirac model and tabulated equations of

state.

3.7.1 PERFECT GAS MODELS

By definition, the interaction among particles is ignored in perfect gas models.

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In many cases of practical importance this model is quite satisfactory, particu-

larly if the contributions to the internal energy of the gas from atomic

excitation and ionization are included.6,22 The equation of state for a perfect
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THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

gas can be written as

._ NkT D_

p = rikT=——=pRT

where R is the gas constant per unit mass.

The internal energy of a perfect gas can be attributed to a variety of

contributions, including translational motion, molecular rotation and vibra-

tion, atomic excitation and ionization, and so on. However, the interaction

among various particles (atoms, molecules, electrons, and ions) is ignored.

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EQUATIONS OF STATE 89

The Ideal Gas Model At sufficiently low temperatures, or for fully ionized

gases, one can ignore internal degrees of freedom and consider only the

contribution to the internal energy of the gas from translational motion. If we

note that the neglect of particle interactions in the perfect gas model implies

that (3e/3/?)r=0 and (de/dV)T—0 then it is apparent that the internal energy

is a function of temperature only. That is, the perfect gas model ignores the

dependence of internal energy on pressure that would arise from particle

interactions.

If we now recall the first law of thermodynamics

dQ=de+pdV

and the definition of the specific heat at constant volume, cv = (de/dT)y, we

can use the ideal gas assumption, e=e(T) only, to write

= (-) =

dT

We can substitute this into the first law to find

dQ^jj dT+pdV=cv dT+pdV

But we recall the equation of state, pV=NRT, so that

pdV+ Vdp = NR dT

Hence the first law becomes

dQ = (cv + NR)dT- Vdp

or

dT C"â„¢A dT

At constant pressure,

' dT

= cv + NR = (cn{T) only

Thus we can find also

dQ = cpdT- Vdp

Let us apply these results to describe the adiabatic, reversible (isentropic)

compression of an ideal gas. We begin with our two alternative forms of the
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THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

first law:

dQ = cvdT+pdV

dQ = cpdT- Vdp

In an adiabatic process, by definition dQ=Q, so that

Vdp = cpdT

pdV=-cvdT

We can take the ratio of these two expressions to find

dp . _cp dV __ dV

P cv V y V

where we have defined y=cp/c0. If we integrate this equation, we find the

familiar relationship for an adiabatic gas

This is just the equation for the adiabat on the p-V diagram describing the

isentropic compression of an ideal gas. Alternative forms of this result are:

In an ideal gas.

If the gas is monatomic (3 degrees of freedom, {kT per degree), then y = j.

It should be apparent that if we want to maximize the final compressed fuel

density pF for a given final pressure pF, we wish as low an adiabat as possible

with a minimum initial p0 for a given p0 since

(3.24)

pp y = constant

constant

(3.25)

that is, we must avoid preheating of the fuel.

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EQUATIONS OF STATE

91

We must be careful in applying these results to ICF implosions, however,

since, as the density increases at fixed temperature the fuel departs further and

further from ideal gas behavior.

Ionization and Electronic Excitation. It is essential to include the effects of

atomic excitation and ionization in equation of state models. Typically, the

ionization of atoms begins at values of kT much lower than the ionization

potential. In most materials ionization will begin at kT~l to 15 eV (although

for the alkali metals this is lowered to several eV).4 The internal energy of the

ionized gas will include contributions from the thermal energy of the particles

(ions and electrons) and the potential energy represented by ionization.

At very high temperatures, the energy and pressure due to thermal radiation

may become comparable to the hydrodynamic energy and pressure of the gas.

If the radiation field is in thermal equilibrium with the gas, one can simply add

the radiation energy and pressure to those of the gas. In Chapter 5 we will

discuss in more detail how the radiation field can be coupled into the

hydrodynamic description of the gas (plasma).

It is customary to assume that the materials comprising ICF targets are

rapidly ionized and can be treated as plasmas. Hence it is important to

examine the equation of state for such Coulomb gases.

3.7.2. THE FERMI DEGENERATE ELECTRON GAS

If the density of the fuel becomes high enough, while the fuel temperature

remains relatively low, the de Broglie wavelength of the electrons will become

comparable to the interparticle spacing, and the exclusion principle will

become important. The electrons become a "degenerate electron gas" obeying

Fermi-Dirac statistics rather than the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution:4,6,21

As the electrons are compressed, their density is limited by the number of

available quantum states. Once a level of states has been filled, no more

electrons may be added at this energy. Additional electrons must then be

added at higher energy.

If nt is the electron density, then the maximum momentum state filled in the

degenerate gas is given by

The corresponding maximum energy eF is known as the Fermi energy and

given by

n(e)~

tnp[(e-fi)/kT] + \
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2/3 = 2.\9X\0-"n2/3(eV)

(3.26)
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92

THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

r[evi

1000

100 h-

10

Figure 3.12. Identification of regions of Fermi degeneracy as functions of density and

temperature.

The corresponding pressure exerted by the degenerate gas is given by

(Note that the pressure scales with density just as it did for the ideal gas.) The

usual condition for Fermi degeneracy can be expressed by comparing the

thermal energy kT to the Fermi energy eF. For example, at liquid-state density,

ne—4x 1022, and the Fermi energy is eF=5 eV. Hence if the thermal energy of

the electrons is below 5 eV, the electrons will behave as a degenerate gas. This,

of course, is the situation for electrons in a metal.

By way of contrast, in the highly compressed core of an ICF fuel pellet

n,~1026 and eF~500 eV. Hence the fuel will be in a degenerate state until it

ignites and heats to appreciably higher temperatures. We have plotted the

Fermi energy as a function of density in Figure 3.12.

More detailed theories of the electron gas yield the pressure-density relation-

ship as:

slightly degenerate gas:

(Mbar)

(3.27)

(3.28)

almost completely degenerate gas:

(3.29)
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EQUATIONS OF STATE

93

3.7.3 THOMAS-FERMI AND THOMAS-FERMI-DIRAC

MODELS4 40 42

The degenerate electron gas model ignores the Coulomb forces between ions

and electrons. For dense fuels, we must account for the Coulomb interaction

energy since usually Ze1 /rej>tF, where rei is the electron-ion separation

distance which scales as p"'/3. For example, in D-T fuel at density n~4.5X

1022, T—5 eV, and Z = 1 the Fermi energy and Coulomb energy are compar-

able, and therefore we must consider Coulomb effects.

The inclusion of the Coulomb interaction is usually accomplished by using

the Thomas-Fermi model, which treats the electron energy as the sum of

kinetic and Coulomb terms

Poisson's equation is then solved to determine the self-consistent electron

density ne(r) and potential <f>(r). In essence, the Thomas-Fermi theory models

the nuclei as a classical gas, moving freely within a background of Fermi

degenerate electron gas. The electrons are not bound in quantum states but

instead are influenced by the potential of the nearest nucleus in such a way

that the average electron density depends on the local potential energy.

This model can be improved to account for exchange effects (that is, the

effective interaction of electrons with parallel or antiparallel spins through the

Pauli exclusion principle). This more complex theory is known as the Thomas-

Fermi-Dirac model.

3.7.4. OTHER EQUATION OF STATE MODELS

One can use limited experimental data obtained from shock wave experiments

on solids to infer equation of state behavior. However of perhaps more use are

direct computer simulations of the microscopic behavior of dense matter. One

can identify two classes of simulations: those based on random sampling or

Monte Carlo methods, and those based on particle dynamics simulations. In

Monte Carlo methods,43 one randomly samples the particle phase space to

construct ensemble averages characterizing the equilibrium behavior of a dense

system. In essence, one samples from an ensemble of particle configurations

weighted by a canonical ensemble distribution. In microscopic particle simula-

tion methods,44 one integrates the equations of motion characterizing a num-

ber of particles (500 or so) as they interact. Time averages of these motions can

then be performed to determine macroscopic properties.

As data are accumulated from experiment, theory, or computer simulation

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they are evaluated and placed in tabulated equation of state data bases. Such

tabulated equations of state represent the most accurate data for dense ICF

fuels.45
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94

THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

3.8. ABLATION-DRIVEN COMPRESSION

The implosion of ICF targets is driven by the forces produced by surface

ablation. The incident driver beam energy is absorbed in the outer layers of the

target or in the plasma cloud surrounding the target. This energy is then

transported into the pellet surface, where it generates high temperatures

leading to surface ablation. This thermal wave front at the ablation surface acts

like a leaky piston, compressing the cold fuel ahead of it to high density while

the hot material at the ablation front expands and ablates away from the pellet

surface.

In this section we will ignore the detailed mechanisms of driver beam energy

deposition and transport and focus instead on the ablation-driven compression

process. Of particular interest is the partitioning of the deposited driver energy

among four processes: the thermal and kinetic energy of the ablation layer,

and the thermal and kinetic energy of the dense fuel being compressed ahead

of the ablation layer.

We will examine a simple model of the spherical, ablatively driven implosion

process. This will be followed by experimental results that determine the

ablation efficiency for laser irradiated targets. Finally, a few words will be said

about different classes of ablative acceleration.

3.8.1. A SIMPLE MODEL OF A SPHERICAL

ABLATIVE IMPLOSION

Mayer, Steele, and Larsen46 have developed a simple model of the ablative

implosion of a high aspect ratio (shell radius to shell thickness) spherical shell

that examines the efficiency of energy transfer from ablation pressure to shell

implosion kinetic energy. The implosion of the shell is driven by two forces:

that due to the reactive force of the ablating material (the "rocket effect"), and

that due to the ablation pressure caused by the deposition and transport of

driver energy as heat into the ablation surface. To model the implosion Mayer

et al. assume that the high aspect ratio shell can be adequately represented by

an infinitely thin mass shell of mass Ms at radius R(t). The ablation material

density pa and ablation velocity va (relative to the moving shell surface) are

taken as constant. The shell is assumed to contain an adiabatic fuel (pFVy=

constant) that eventually compresses to a pressure sufficient to reverse the

inward motion of the imploding shell.

Newton's law for this model can be written as

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jt (MSR) = (R + va)M, + 4vR2(pF-pa)

The shell loses mass because of ablation at a rate

M = -4irR2pava
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ABLATION-DRIVEN COMPRESSION 95

To analyze this model, Mayer et al.46 introduce a characteristic implosion time

,_/ \'/2j

so that Newton's law can be written in a dimensionless form as

dr

where

Mo •'o

,t

t=-

A/0 = 4ir^o^Psheii (initial shell mass)

M= — = Mach number, c = ( — )

V Pa I

This equation has been numerically integrated for initial conditions: tj(0) =

1, y(0) = 1, y{0) = 0 for various choices of the parameters M, a, and /?. Before

examining these solutions, it is useful to compute the various energies associ-

ated with this model. If we multiply by R and integrate, we find

E^f=\E0[^;\ t\={MsR2 shell kinetic energy

£ ablation=\ ('M^R+^f dt=\E0f'i\( y+ — \ dt' blow of f kinetic energy

-'0 ■'o v « /

£mech= - j'4vR2paR dt= — 3E0j'y2y dt' mechanical energy due to

0 0 ablation pressure

£«h= 2 f 'Msv2 dt=\E0^— ( fi dt' "rocket exhaust" energy

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%

THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

Here,

E0=jirRlpa

is the energy needed to fill the original shell volume at the ablation pressure.

Notice the energy balance:

input energy - E$f + E**"\on = E^ + £exh - compression

Detailed examination of the model reveals that the transfer of energy from

the "mechanical" input (ablation pressure) to the shell kinetic energy is quite

efficient. That is, the fraction of energy turned into pressure at the ablation

surface is effectively utilized in the implosion process. The energy transfer

efficiency can be defined as

IT shell

£—

^mech + ^exh

A useful measure of the relative contributions of the rocket exhaust force

and the ablation pressure force driving the shell is provided by the Mach

number M. For the smaller values of M expected in shell implosions, the

ablation pressure force dominates.

In summary, then, this simple model indicates that it is the ablation pressure

that most strongly influences the pellet implosion, and the energy delivered to

the shell from the mechanical ablation pressure is the most efficient energy

transfer mechanism.

ABLATIVE ACCELERATION: EXPERIMENT AND THEORY

Figure 3.13. Ablation efficiency of laser irradiated thin foils. (After Ripin, et. al., Ref.

48.)
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ABLATION-DRIVEN COMPRESSION

97

3.8.2. THE EFFICIENCY OF ABLATION-DRIVEN IMPLOSIONS

We wish to estimate the efficiency of coupling thermal energy deposited by the

driver into an ablatively driven implosion process. We recognize here that the

essential process of interest involves the conduction of heat into the ablation

front where it produces pressures that drive the ablation and implosion

process. Any analysis of this phenomenon, short of a complete hydrodynamics

computer simulation, is susceptible to significant inaccuracy due to over-

simplification. For instance, an isothermal blowoff model estimates the maxi-

mum implosion efficiency to be about 10%. Rather than resorting to such a

simple analysis a priori we start with experimental results and use these as a

guide to an appropriate simple theory. In Figure 3.13 are presented results of

ablatively accelerated planar thin foil targets by a 1.05-ftm Nd glass laser at

NRL.47-48 Thin foil targets are used to simulate spherical shell targets at large

radii. The hydrodynamic efficiency is plotted as a function of the ratio of

ablation velocity and target velocity. We see that efficiencies of as high as 20%

are achievable. Hence the simple isothermal blowoff approximation is in error

by a factor of 2. To describe the data, Ripin et al. used a simple rocket model.

During the acceleration phase the target of mass M and velocity v is accel-

erated by the steady state blowoff of the ablated plasma at constant velocity u

in the target reference frame. Hence the momentum conservation relationship

is integrated to yield the well known rocket equation

The hydrodynamic efficiency t\h is defined as the kinetic energy of the

accelerated target divided by the absorbed laser energy

_ \Mv2

Since the absorbed laser energy must be balanced by the energy of ablation

and the acceleration of the target we can obtain an expression for the

hydrodynamic efficiency as

Vh=(v/u)2[^P(v/u)-\] '.

For small fractional mass loss, this reduces to

t\h-v/u^Am/M0.

This simple rocket model, plotted along with the experimental data on Figure

3.13 shows surprisingly good agreement.

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98 THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

3.8.3. DETERMINATION OF ABLATION-GENERATED

PRESSURES247 49

The essential physics of the ablation driven compression process are shown in

Figure 3.14. The incident driver energy is absorbed in the outer regions of the

pellet corona. This energy is conducted into the surface of the pellet, where it

generates the high temperatures leading to surface ablation. These tempera-

tures and the surface ablation produce large pressures that drive shock waves

into the pellet to compress the fuel.

We can identify three classes of pressure produced by the driver: (1)

Ablation pressure due to the flow or ablation of heated plasma from the pellet

surface. The ablation pressure pA is largest where pTe is largest. (2) Superther-

mal particle preheat pressure due to energetic electrons produced in the driver

energy deposition region that then stream in to the pellet surface and deposit

their energy. (3) Light pressure. If a laser driver is used, the incident light can

generate a ponderomotive force or pressure at the critical surface. The magni-

tude of this light pressure is

o/ = -~3xl(T,6/( -^t) Mbar

c \cm21

Although the light pressure can affect the blowoff plasma density profile, it

cannot directly drive the pellet compression.

The ablation front can be analyzed in a manner very similar to that used to

study a shock wave. That is, we can model the front as a discontinuity in the

plasma properties.4 If we move to a coordinate frame fixed at the ablation

front (see Figure 3.15), we can again apply the Rankine-Hugoniot relations:

po"o=Pi«i

po + Pouo=p\ + P\u\

PoMo PlMl

Here we have inserted a new term, W, into the energy equation to represent the

heat source due to electron thermal conduction in from the energy deposition

region.

There are two characteristic propagation velocities characterizing the abla-

tion process:

heat wave velocity: uHW~ W/poh\ (which can be obtained by equating the

absorbed power to the enthalpy flux as we did in Section 2.6.1)

shock wave velocity: usw~( p\/Pq)\/2

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 0 100 Mm
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Figure 3.15. Profiles across the ablation front.

Figure 3.14. Density and temperature profiles in a laser heated plasma.
100

THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

These propagation velocities can be used to distinguish among three differ-

ent cases:

1. If the shock speed usw is greater than the heat wave speed

uHW' then the

shock is driven into the dense pellet medium by the ablation as shown in

Figure 3.15. The driving pressure is then , + p,wf. The case in which

usw>uHW is known as subsonic deflagration.4

2. In the opposite situation, the heat front velocity is greater than the

shock wave velocity usw, and the heat wave moves into the pellet material

ahead of the shock, preheating it and reducing the compression achieved

by the following shock. This is known as a supersonic thermal conduction

wave. We will consider it in more detail in the next chapter.

3. The limiting case of vHW = vsV/ is known as the Chapman-J'ouget deflagra-

tion.

If we assume an equation of state for the material, for example, an ideal gas

with h = (y/y— \ )(p/p), the Rankine-Hugoniot relations provide us with four

equations in five unknowns, w0, u,, p,, hx, and/>, for a given p0, h0, and W. We

need one more equation relating the driver energy and the ablation parameters.

This last equation is the heating law representing the interaction physics

between the driver and the plasma. It allows us to complete the set of

equations and solve for the jump relations across the ablation front, just as for

the shock wave problem. Such an analysis49 indicates that the pressure at the

Chapman-Jouget point (where uHw = t,sw) scales as

where / is the incident driver intensity in TW/cm2. In the particular case of

Nd laser drivers, we can set p, approximately equal to the critical density to

find that the ablation pressure scales as pt~(0.6) I2/3 Mbar. The pressure

ahead at the deflagration front p0~2px.

3.8.4. ELECTRON AND ION BEAM DRIVEN ABLATION

The analysis in this section has been confined to laser-driven ablation, in which

the incident laser beam is shielded from the ablation surface by the plasma

blowoff cloud surrounding the target. In this process, the incident beam energy

is absorbed in the plasma corona in the vicinity of the critical density, and this

energy is then transported into the ablation surface.

This situation is modified for electron and ion beam drivers. Here, the

incident beam particles penetrate much more deeply into the target. There is
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nothing analogous to a critical surface beyond which the beam cannot penetrate.

Hence the analysis of the ablation process driven by charged particle beams is

somewhat different. We further discuss the detailed energy deposition mecha-

nisms for charged particle beams in Chapter 5.

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Mbar
REFERENCES

101

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3. L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, Fluid Mechanics (New York, Pergamon, 1959).

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5. H. Lamb, Hydrodynamics (New York, Dover, 1945).

6. K. Huang. Statistical Mechanics (New York. Wiley, 1963).

7. W. G. Vincenti and C. H. Kruger, Introduction to Physical Gas Dynamics (New York, Wiley,

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8. N. A. Krall and A. W. Trivelpiece, Principles of Plasma Physics (New York, McGraw-Hill,

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(New York, Academic, 1971), p. 245.

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17. R. Courant and K. O. Friedrichs, Supersonic Flow and Shock Waves (New York, Wiley-

Interscience, 1957).

18. G. B. Whitham, Linear and Nonlinear Waves (New York, Wiley-Interscience, 1974).

19. J. von Neumann, "Theory of Shock Waves," in Collected Works, Vol. 6 (1943) pp. 178-202.

20. H. Hugoniot.7. I,Ecole Polytech. 58, 1 (1899).

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22. M. W. Zcmansky, Heat and Thermodynamics (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1943).

23. G. Guderley, "Starke Kugclige und Zylindriche Verdichtungsstossc in der Nahe des Kugel-

mittelpunktes bzw. der Zylinderachse," Luftfahrforschung 19, 302 (1942).

24. L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, Fluid Mechanics (New York, Pergamon, 1959).
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25. L. I. Sedov, Similarity and Dimensional Methods in Mechanics (New York, Academic, 1959).

26. R. E. Kidder, "Theory of Homogeneous Isentropic Compression and Its Application to Laser

Fusion," in Laser Interaction and Related Plasma Phenomena, ed. by H. Hora and H. Schwarz

1973).
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27. R. E. Kidder, "Laser Driven Compression of Hollow Shells: Power Requirements and

Stability Limitations." Nucl. Fusion 16, 3 (1976).

28. R. E. Kidder, "Energy Gain of Laser-Compressed Pellets: A Simple Model Calculation,"

Nucl. Fusion 16. 405 (1976).

29. R. A. Gross and C. K. Chu. "Plasma Shock Waves," Adv. Plasma Phys. 2. 139 (1969).

30. G. Taylor. "The Instability of Liquid Surfaces When Accelerated in a Direction Perpendicu-

lar to Their Planes," Proc. Roy. Soc. A201. 192 (1950).

31. Lord Rayleigh, "Investigation of the Character of the Equilibrium of an Incompressible

Heavy Fluid of Variable Density," Scientific Papers (Cambridge, 1900). pp. 200-207.
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THE PHYSICS OF HYDRODYNAMIC COMPRESSION

32. R. Lelevier, G. Lasher, and F. Bjorkland, "Effect of a Density Gradient on the Taylor

Instability," Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-4459 (1955).

33. G. Wolf, "The Dynamic Stabilization of the Rayleigh-Taylor Instability and the Correspond-

ing Dynamic Equilibrium," Z. Phys. 227, 291 (1969).

34. K. A. Brueckner, S. Jorna, and R. Janda. "Hydrodynamic Stability of a Laser-Driven

Plasma," Phys. Fluids 17, 1554 (1974).

35. J. D. Lindl and W. C. Mead, "Behavior of Fluid Instabilities in Laser Fusion Pellets: Results

of 2-D Calculations," Phys. Rev. Lett. 34, 1273 (1975).

36. J. Lindl, R. O. Bangerter. J. H. Nuckolls, W. C. Mead, and J. J. Thomson, "Effects of Density

Gradient Modification on Fluid Instability in Thermonuclear Micro-Implosions," Lawrence

Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-78470 (1976).

37. J. Boris, "Dynamic Stabilization of the Imploding Shell Rayleigh-Taylor Instability," Com-

ments on Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 31, (1977).

38. Yu. Afans'sev, N. G. Basov, E. G. Gamalii, O. N. Krokhin, and V. B. Rozanov, "Symmetry

and Stability of Laser-Driven Compression of Thermonuclear Targets," JETP Lett. 23. 566

(1976).

39. S. G. Brush, "On the Equation of State at High Temperatures and Densities," translated from

H. Steinwedel. J. Hans, and D. Jensen, Z. Physik 125, 394 (1949).

40. R. Latter, "Temperature Behavior of the Thomas-Fermi Statistical Model for Atoms," Phys.

Rev. 99, 1854(1955).

41. E. E. Saltpeter and H. S. Zapolsky, "Theoretical High Pressure Equations of State Including

Correlation Energy." Phys. Rev. 158, 876 (1967).

42. R. P. Feynman, N. Metropolis, and E. Teller, "Equations of State Based on the Generalized

Fermi-Thomas Theory," Phys. Rev. 75, 1561 (1949).

43. S. G. Brush, H. L. Sahlin, and E. Teller, "Monte Carlo Study of a One-Component Plasma,"

J. Chem. Phys. 45, 2102 (1966).

44. H. P. Hansen, E. L. Pollock, I. R. McDonald, and P. Vieillefosse, "Statistical Mechanics of

Dense Ionized Matter. III. Dynamical Properties of the Classical One-Component Plasma,"

Phys. Rev. A 11, 1025 (1975).

45. The SESAME Equation of State Library, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, 1979.

46. F. J. Mayer, J. T. Steele, and J. T. Larsen, "A Simple Spherical Ablative-Implosion Model."

KMS Fusion, Inc. Report U856 (1980).

47. R. Decoste, S. Bodner, B. Ripin, E. McLean, S. Obenshain, and C. Armstrong, "Ablative

Acceleration of Laser-Irradiated Thin-Foil Targets," Phys. Rev. Lett. 42, 1673 (1979).

48. B. Ripin, R. Descoste. S. Obenshain, S. Bodner, E. McLean, F. Young, R. Whitlock, C.

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Armstrong, J. Green, J. Stamper, S. Gold, D. Nagel, R. Lehmberg, and J. McMahon, "Laser

Plasma Interaction and Ablative Acceleration of Thin Foils at 10,2-IO15 w/cm2," Phys.

Fluids 23, 1012 (1980).

49. J. L. Bobin, F. Delobeau, G. De Giovanni, C. Fauquignon, and F. Floux, "Temperature in

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Laser-Created Deuterium Plasmas," Nucl. Fusion 9, 115 (1969).

50. . J. L. Bobin, D. Colombant, and G. Toton, "Fusion by Laser-Driven Flame Propagation in

. Solid DT-Targets," Nucl. Fusion 12, 445 (1972).

51. J. Orens, "Accurate Analytic Approximations and Numerical Solutions for the Structure of

Quasi-Static Laser Driven Ablation Layers," Naval Research Laboratory Report NRL-4167

(1980).
FOUR

Energy Transport in

ICF Plasmas

In inertial confinement fusion, the energy deposited by laser or charged

particle beams is used to implode the fuel in tiny pellets to the high density

conditions necessary for ignition and efficient thermonuclear burn. In Chapter

2 we considered the various processes occurring in an inertially confined,

thermonuclear fusion reaction. In Chapter 3 we turned our attention to the

hydrodynamic processes involved in the pellet implosion, such as shock wave

propagation, isentropic compression, and ablation-generated pressures. In this

chapter we consider the various mechanisms by which energy is transported

from the driver energy deposition region into the ablation surface of the target.

In most inertial confinement fusion schemes, the incident driver energy is

shielded from the surface of the target by the plasma cloud or corona of

blowoff material. For example, an incident laser beam will be unable to

propagate to densities higher than the critical density at which the plasma

frequency characterizing the blowoff plasma equals the frequency of the

incident light. Since this density is usually quite low (1021 electrons/cm3 for

1.06 /im light and 1019 electrons/cm3 for 10.6 /im light), most driver energy

will be absorbed in regions of the plasma corona far from the ablation surface.

Light and heavy ion beams will also tend to be shielded from the target surface

by the blowoff plasma surrounding the target.

Hence the mechanisms for transporting the driver energy deposited in the

outer regions of the plasma corona into the ablation surface are of consider-

able importance in inertial confinement fusion (see Figure 4.1). We will

consider three such energy transport mechanisms in this chapter: classical

electron thermal conduction, hot (superthermal) electron transport, and radia-

tion transport.

103
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104 ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

Relevant Hydrodynamics Energy transport Driver energy

physics (compression) absorption

Figure 4.1. Energy transport mechanisms in inertial confinement fusion targets.

4.1. ELECTRON THERMAL CONDUCTION

An important energy transport mechanism in high temperature plasmas is

electron thermal conduction. The small mass of the electrons coupled with the

high temperature of the pellet plasma corona or blowoff cloud make its

thermal conductivity quite high. Although the process of conventional thermal

conduction in plasmas is well understood, there are additional phenomena

present in ICF plasmas which complicate the conduction process considerably.

The strong temperature dependence of the electron thermal conductivity makes

this a highly nonlinear process. The driver energy absorption produces a

number of very high energy electrons (so-called superthermal electrons, since

they are not characterized by the usual thermal distribution assumed in the

plasma hydrodynamic model). These electrons can stream into the dense pellet

fuel, preheating it before the ablation-driven shock waves can compress it. The

presence of both hot and cold electrons can lead to plasma instabilities which

produce a turbulent state in the plasma corona, tending to inhibit the thermal

conduction process. Density and temperature gradients can produce large

magnetic fields which also inhibit the conduction process. Therefore it should

be apparent that the thermal conduction energy transport process is rather

complex in ICF plasmas and must be considered in some detail.

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ELECTRON THERMAL CONDUCTION

105

4.1.1. ELECTRON THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY

In the classical theory of electron thermal conduction, one assumes that the

heat flux is given by Fourier,s law1 of thermal conduction

q=-KVT (4.1)

where k is the thermal conductivity. The heat conduction process is dominated

by the fast moving electrons; the contribution of the much slower ions can be

ignored to first order. The thermal conductivity characterizing noninteracting

electrons diffusing through a background of fixed ions (the Lorentz gas model)

has been calculated by Spitzer2 as

me'ei m[/2e2Z\nA

The kinetic theory of gases indicates that heat flow is possible only with a

skewed or distorted particle distribution function. This implies that the flow of

hot electrons carrying the thermal energy must be compensated by a return

drift of cold electrons (See Figure 4.2). An electric field is established by this

motion, and this field will contribute to the heat flux. We can represent this

contribution by writing

q=-KVr-)8E

where /? is the Peltier coefficient characterizing the thermoelectric contribution

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106 ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

to the heat flux. We can relate the electric field to the temperature gradient by

demanding that the net current density be zero:

i=-E + oV7'=0

where a is the Seebeck coefficient and tj is the resistivity. We can solve this for

E= — aTj vr

to rewrite the heat flux as

q= -{k-P<xt\)vT= -Keffv7"

where we have defined an effective thermal conductivity iceff which takes

account of the induced electric field:

<co=K-paV= (l - ^p)"=S(r, Z)k

The scaling parameter 6(7, Z) is a function of temperature and charge and is

tabulated by Spitzer. For conditions of interest in the pellet corona, we can

approximate

_ 0.095(Z+0.24)

S- 1+0.24Z

The general form of the thermal conductivity can therefore be written as

2\V2 k{kTe)5/2

(,=fif(7\Z)20(!)'

w'/2e4Zln A.

«=8,(r.Z)20(ir ^ff ,4.3)

' \ir) m;/VZ4ln A„

For point of future reference, we will also write the electron-ion temperature

equilibration frequency as

8(27r)'/2WfZ2e4lnAc,

3m.m,kyi

TT

-^ + -^

m„ m,

-3/2

(4.4)

We should note in particular that all of these coefficients depend strongly on

temperature, making thermal processes in plasmas highly nonlinear.

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ELECTRON THERMAL CONDUCTION

107

4.1.2. THE CONVENTIONAL THEORY OF HEAT

CONDUCTION IN PLASMAS3

When energy is deposited locally in a fluid, it gives rise to local perturbations

in fluid properties such as density, pressure, and temperature. These dis-

turbances will then propagate away from the source, transporting energy to

other regions of the fluid. In most fluids the two principal energy transport

modes are hydrodynamic motion (sound waves or shock waves) and thermal

conduction. In certain types of high temperature phenonema, radiative transfer

can also become an important energy transport mechanism.

The velocities characterizing energy transport via thermal conduction are

usually much smaller than those characterizing hydrodynamic disturbances

such as sound waves. Therefore in most fluids, pressure disturbances will

propagate out more rapidly and equilibrate before temperature disturbances.

In these cases, we can effectively decouple thermal conduction from hydrody-

namic motion and consider the energy transport to be governed by the

equation of thermal conduction

where the heat flux vector q(r, t), is given by Fouriers's law

q=-kvT

In conventional heat conduction problems, one usually assumes that the

thermal conductivity is a constant so that we can write

pcp^ = KV2T+W (4.5)

If we divide through by pcp, then we find the usual diffusion equation

jf=DTv2T+Q

where DT=(K/pcp) is the thermal diffusivity and Q= W/pcp is a normalized

source term. Although the thermal diffusivity is the diffusion coefficient for

energy transport rather than particle transport, in gases we can estimate

DT~D~-Vxh

where A is the mean free path and vth is the thermal velocity of the particles.

(As an example, in air at standard temperature and pressure (STP) conditions,

Dr~0.205 cm2/s, while in water, DT~ 1.5 X 10"3 cm2/s.)

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108

ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

When the thermal conductivity is a strong function of temperature, as it is in

a plasma, the equation of heat conduction becomes highly nonlinear:

PC„j^ = Vk(T)vT+W (4.6)

A variety of new phenomena arise such as the presence of supersonic thermal

conduction waves. The situation in which the thermal conductivity becomes

strongly temperature dependent arises in several phenomena. We have noted

that K~T5/2 in a plasma. Furthermore, in radiative transfer problems one can

sometimes define an effective thermal conductivity that scales as k~T3.

The general theory of such nonlinear heat conduction has been considered in

detail by Zel'dovich and Raizer,3 who consider a general form for the thermal

diffusivity of

DT= — =aT" (4.7)

PCp

We will briefly summarize the results of their analysis with particular applica-

tions to heat conduction in plasmas.

Linear Heat Conduction. We begin by considering the classical problem of

a pulsed heat source plane at the origin of an infinite medium for the case in

which the thermal conductivity is constant:

^=DT^ + Q8(x)8(t) (4.8)

This yields the classical spreading Gaussian shape solutions of the form

r(X'0=(4l^reXp(^V4^)

shown in Figure 4.3. The area under the Gaussian curves is constant and given

by

• + 00

dxT(x,t) = Q

- rw-i

This, of course, is the usual Green's function solution to the time-dependent

diffusion equation. As such, these solutions are not waves since they exhibit an

infinite propagation speed. That is, for any time t>0, there will be some

response in the temperature T(x, t), no matter how far one is from the source

plane at x = 0. There is no true wave front.

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ELECTRON THERMAL CONDUCTION

109

The, t)

-*F XF

Figure 43. Thermal diffusion of a pulsed source as described by linear heat conduc-

tion.

We can nevertheless define a psuedo-wave-front speed by noting that most

energy is localized in a zone out to a distance

xF~(4DTly/2~(DT,),/2

If we characterize the thermal conduction "wave" by a wave front at position

*f('X we can tnen calculate a speed of propagation

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110

ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

This is an important result, for it implies that after the heat wave has

propagated a distance xF greater than a mean free path (mfp) X, its speed of

propagation will be less than the thermal velocity %. Since is of the same

order as the speed of sound cs, this result implies that as soon as the heat wave

has propagated further than a mfp, it will be moving much more slowly than

the speed of sound:

(Actually, the diffusion equation is only valid for distances greater than a mfp

from the source plane in any event.)

Hence we conclude that the diffusion "wave" characterizing a linear heat

conduction process always travels much more slowly than does a hydrody-

namic disturbance (sound wave or shock wave) and will therefore decouple

from hydrodynamic motion.

Nonlinear Heat Conduction. The situation changes dramatically when the

thermal conductivity becomes a function of temperature. Suppose, for exam-

ple, that k~T". If we recall that the heat flux is given by

and assume that ahead of the heat disturbance, the temperature is essentially

zero, then we find that there can be no heat flux ahead of the heat disturbance:

7,~-0=>K~0=»<7~0. That is, we find a sharp wave front for the heat dis-

turbance—a heat wave (see Figure 4.4). (In the case of linear heat conduction,

the conductivity does not vanish for vanishing temperatures, and hence the

heat flux is always nonzero for any x.)

We can estimate the shape of the heat wave front by assuming a wave

behavior3

where uHW is the velocity of the heat wave. If we substitute this trial solution

into the nonlinear diffusion equation written in the form

T(x,t) = T(x-vHWt)

dT 8 ar

— = —aT —

8/ dx .dx

we find

— v

dT

dx

We can integrate this equation twice with respect to x, using the boundary
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Ill

T (x, t)

>-

T(x, t) A

• \

-xF (t) xF (t) X

Figure 4.4. Heat wave propagation from a pulsed source as described by nonlinear

heat conduction.

condition that T=0 at some wave front x—xF{t), to find a wave shape

T(x,t) = [^\XF(t)-X\]i/H (4.9)

Here xF(t) and v^^dxp/dt are as yet undetermined. Although a precise

determination of these quantities requires a detailed solution of the nonlinear

thermal conduction equation, we can use dimensional analysis to estimate

xF(t)~(aQ"tyA"+2)=(aQ"yAn+2)t\"',+2)

«Hw(0=^~(«e-),/("+2v/,--i-'~^~^l

This suggests that the heat wave slows down as it travels away from the source.

The stronger the dependence of the thermal conductivity on temperature (the

larger the exponent n), the more rapidly the wave slows down.

Zel,dovich and Raizer3 have constructed an exact self-similar solution to the

nonlinear heat conduction equation for a pulsed source at the origin. For

the case of a plasma in which k~T5/2, this solution takes the form

T(xj) = Tc(t)

4(0

2/5
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112

ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

where

rc(0=

Q 2w'/2r(0.4)

2xF(t) 9r(0.9)

xAl)=M«Q5/2l)2/9

i0=

(|)7/22-V2-

2/9

fr(*)|

5/9

(i)"5/4

[r(!)J

The heat conduction wave velocity can be calculated as

°Hw(O=^=io(«0s/2)2/V7/9

(4.10)

The structure of the heat conduction wave is compared against that for linear

heat conduction in Figures 4.3 and 4.4.

A problem of more direct interest to inertial confinement fusion is that of a

half-space subjected to a constant heat flux S0 on its boundary. That is. one

considers the nonlinear heat conduction equation

*I=a±TV2*I

dt dx dx

subject to the boundary condition

A° Kdx

Zel,dovich and Raizer3 have also obtained a self-similar solution to this

problem. For our purposes, however, it is sufficient to use order of magnitude

estimates. The average temperature in the wave must be given by balancing

y-5/2

+1

But if we note T/t~S0/xF, we can find

MO-

2/9

fV2

c0Pa

(4.11)
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We have compared the structure of the heat conduction wave for a constant
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ELECTRON THERMAL CONDUCTION

113

Heat pulse

T(x, Ok

V ~ —

HW ,7/9

Constant heat source j (x t)

, 2/9

Figure 4.5. Comparison of nonlinear thermal wave propagation from pulsed and

steady-state sources.

heat flux on a boundary with that for a pulsed source in Figure 4.5. Although

the speed of the heat wave decreases more slowly for the constant heat source

problem, once again we find that in the early stage of the thermal wave the

propagation speed is large. In fact, if the heat source is large enough, the heat

wave will propagate supersonically with

In these cases, the fluid simply does not have enough time to get moving before

the heat wave moves into it, heating it to high temperatures. Eventually,

however, the heat wave slows down to the speed of sound or below (subsonic

propagation).

It is an interesting exercise to determine that heat source or temperature

time dependence on the boundary that will match the speeds of the heat wave

and the shock wave—that is, satisfy the Chapman-Jouget condition. Let us

suppose that the temperature on the boundary is programmed to increase as

Vi

T0{t) = Ct"
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114

ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

Then the distance that heat is carried into the medium in a given time scales as

xF~(DTt)\/2~TS2t\/2~t<"«+"/2

Hence the speed of the thermal wave behaves as

vâ„¢ dt t '

The shock wave travels into the medium with a speed

i>sw~cs~7"/2~,'/2

Therefore the speeds of the thermal wave and shock wave will scale similarly

with time if

nq- 1 _ <7

22

or

n-1

For the case of heat conduction in a plasma, n = \, so that the required

temperature dependence is

If we assume that all of the incident driver energy is absorbed at x=0,

dT

dt

x=0

=Q(,)

then we can infer a driver pulse profile of

13

The implications of this analysis are important: if the rate of energy

deposition is too rapid, the thermal wave will propagate supersonically into the

pellet before it can be compressed by the following shock wave. If we recognize

that a 1-keV electron moves with a thermal speed of uth~2.3X109 cm/s=

23/im/ps, then it is apparent that these thermal waves can propagate very fast

indeed. We should also recall that these nonlinear thermal conduction waves

play a very important role in the shock wave structure in a plasma, even when

uHW<usw (see Section 3.6) as we have indicated in Figure 3.10.

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ELECTRON THERMAL CONDUCTION

115

4.1.2. CORONA-CORE DECOUPLING

Kidder and Zink4 have analyzed the coupling of thermal energy between the

pellet core and the plasma corona in which the driver energy deposition occurs

under the assumption of classical collision processes. The absorption and

transport of energy into the pellet core via thermal conduction is governed by

several significant time scales:

driver pulse rate at which energy is dumped into

rise time * outer plasma corona or pellet

thermal rate at which energy is conducted

conduction into ablation surface

time

electron-ion

and electron-

electron rate at which electrons can transfer

collision time energy into the pellet core

(at the ablation

front)

We can develop a simple model of how these times affect the transfer of energy

from the energy deposition region in the corona to the pellet core. If we

characterize the corona and core by bulk temperatures and Tcon,

respectively, then we can write the balance equations

J, \C\' I â„¢i/2 \ corona A core /

mi corona f '

corona

dT A0 . „ .

— = — (T —T )

dt core T3/2 ^ corona 'core^

* corona

Here, Q(t) represents the effective heat source seen by the corona:

Q(t)=l driver ener8y \ X / probability of heat \

^ \ deposition rate / \ transfer into core /

If we assume that the driver energy deposition is governed by classical collision

processes (e.g., laser light absorption via inverse bremsstrahlung), then we can

scale

Viv'/ 7*3/2 V corona/

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'corona

One expects that the heat transfer probability P is a decreasing function of the

corona temperature.
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116

ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

When these equations are solved, they reveal that if the driver energy

increases too rapidly, then the core and corona temperatures will decouple.

That is, if the corona is heated too rapidly, it will tend to decouple thermally

from the pellet core, and further energy deposition merely heats up the corona

to very high temperatures without affecting the core ("burning the fuzz off of

the peach"). This effect becomes more pronounced for longer wavelength light

in the case of laser drivers since the critical surface where most energy

absorption occurs is at lower densities and therefore characterized by smaller

collision frequencies.

But in a plasma we have noted that the thermal conductivity scales with

temperature as Ke~ Te5/2. Hence for large temperatures, the thermal conductiv-

ity becomes very large and Fourier,s law will predict too large a heat flux.

Actually, in these instances, Fourier,s law breaks down because the electron

mfp becomes larger than the temperature gradient, that is

A brief comparison of electron mean free paths for typical densities and

temperatures is given in Table 4.1. We can compare these estimates against the

temperature gradient scales predicted by computer code simulations of target

dynamics in the corona region:

nf~1022 cnr3, r,~5keV: mfp~25 fim \T/v T\~ 10 firn

n,~1021cm-3, Te~5 keV: mfp~250/iâ„¢ \T/vT\~ 100 fim

Hence Fourier,s law is clearly invalid for these cases.5"10 This situation is

Table 4.1. Electron-Ion Mean Free Path (in Microns) as

a Function of Electron Density and Temperature

4.1.3. THERMAL FLUX LIMITERS

Recall that Fourier,s law gives the heat flux as

Mem 3)

rf(eV)

1019

102'

1023

1025

102

103

104

10
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1000

105

10

1000
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0.1

10

0.1
ELECTRON THERMAL CONDUCTION

117

particularly serious in computer hydrodynamic simulations since the unrealisti-

cally high thermal fluxes will lead to nonphysical predictions (e.g.. thermal

waves propagating faster than the speed of light).

In practice, it is customary to artificially limit the thermal flux to a

maximum value which corresponds to free particle flow.5 8 That is, one

chooses a thermal flux which interpolates between the Fourier's law and free

streaming limits:

(4.12)

To calculate the free streaming limit, we can simply estimate the flux of

particles across a plane surface (assuming an isotropic particle distribution),

and then multiply this by the mean kinetic energy per particle

(kT \1/2

~m ) "«

In many computer codes, one simply uses a flux limiting form for the heat

flux:

(4.13)

(This interpolation form has been used for many years in gas dynamics where

it is referred to as Sherman's universal relation. It can be derived more

rigorously from kinetic theory arguments for linear heat flow problems.)

4.1.4. THERMAL CONDUCTION INHIBITION

Thus far we have discussed only one mechanism of energy transport from the

region of energy deposition into the ablation surface, electron thermal conduc-

tion. However, one of the most important conclusions drawn from the laser-

target interaction experiments performed during the 1970s was that other

processes such as fast electron transport, spontaneous magnetic field genera-

tion,""13 and plasma turbulence may strongly affect the transport of energy in

the plasma corona surrounding the target.

For example, a variety of experimental measurements (including X-ray

diagnostics) have established that suprathermal or high energy electrons are

produced by the laser light absorption process at the critical surface.14"16 For

large light intensities (1015W/cm2), an appreciable fraction of the absorbed

energy appears to go into the production of these fast electrons. If we

characterize the hot electrons by an effective temperature TH, then the mea-

surement of X-ray spectra and fast ions suggests that the hot electron tempera-

ture is from 10 to 20 times that of the background electron temperature (1 to

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<7fl ^streaming

9eZ

«Jvrj
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-I- ( \mv2 n

-i
118

ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

10 keV). The presence of such suprathermal electrons is of particular impor-

tance, since their long mfp allows them to penetrate into the target and preheat

the fuel core. We return to consider this important phenomenon in some detail

in the next section.

A second important phenomenon is an inhibition of electron thermal

conduction. More precisely, it is found that the actual value of the thermal flux

in the corona region is almost an order of magnitude smaller than that

predicted by classical physics (Fouriers's law).15 It has been suggested that this

effect might be explained by either the generation of ion turbulence in the

corona region or by the presence of strong magnetic fields produced by density

and temperature gradients. In this section we discuss this thermal conduction

inhibition process.

The evidence of this inhibition was provided first by a number of foil-

irradiation experiments performed at Los Alamos.1415 Thin foils were il-

luminated from one side with intense laser light. The foils were thin enough

that classical thermal conduction was expected to be sufficiently strong to

transport energy quickly through the foil and yield a symmetric pattern of fast

ion blowoff on either side. In fact, however, a strongly asymmetric ion blowoff

pattern was observed that could be explained by reducing the heat flux by

roughly a factor of 30.

A variety of subsequent experiments have supported the presence of some

thermal conduction inhibition mechanism in laser driven targets. For example,

researchers at NRL17 measured the X-ray line spectrum given off by a slab

target composed of layers of Al and Si02 to determine the penetration depth of

the heat conduction wave. They inferred a reduction or inhibition factor of 15

to 25 of the classical thermal conduction. Streak camera measurements of the

radial implosion velocity of glass microballoons also indicated a thermal flux

inhibition of about this magnitude.18 Other experiments on a variety of targets

using light at differing intensities and pulse lengths confirm the presence of

this phenomenon.19

To summarize existing experimental data, there appears to be a strong

inhibition of thermal conduction in the corona region, estimated to be of

magnitude

<7~2^j(-«vr) or jo(nekTe)v,

These experiments have found strong inhibition in both long and short pulse
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experiments, in both high and low Z targets, both laterally and axially with

respect to the incident laser beam. It has also been determined that suprathermal

electrons do not appear to be strongly influenced by this inhibition process.20,21

What might be causing the inhibition? Several mechanisms have been

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proposed that include the presence of strong magnetic fields caused by density

and temperature gradients in the corona region, ion turbulence due to a

two-stream instability caused by the return current of cold electrons, and even

an inadequate modeling of the suprathermal electron transport mechanism.

ELECTRON THERMAL CONDUCTION

119

The large thermal and density gradients induced in the plasma corona can

generate currents and hence spontaneous magnetic fields of some strength.""13

If we ignore the Hall effect and thermoelectric terms, we can write

9B

3/

= Vx

vxB+ v(nekTe)

en.

(4.14)

If the electron density gradient and blowoff velocity are parallel to the incident

laser beam (see Figure 4.6), we find that in the steady state

B~

c kTe 1

evL

where L is the scale length of the electron temperature gradient perpendicular

to the radial direction, L~Te/\vTe\. We can take as a rough estimate

B=

I047;(eV)

L(nm)

For example, at Tc— 1 keV, L=20 fim, we find a spontaneous field of B=500

kG.

To determine the effect22 of this field on thermal conduction, we can use the

form given by Braginskii for the transport coefficient across a magnetic field:

^ Ke(B=0)

*' i+(o„A„)2

where fir, is the electron cyclotron frequency. We can estimate

(4.15)

fic, B(MG) rV2(keV)

z ne(1021)

For example, for B~ 1 MG and Z=30, a density of ne~ 1022 and temperature

of Te~ 1 keV would yield a frequency ratio of Qee/vei~0J. By way of contrast,

in the underdense corona where n,~1021 and Te~\0 keV, this ratio becomes

Figure 4.6. Electron density and temperature gradients

occurring during laser beam irradiation of slab targets.

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120

ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

Hce/vel~2\0. Hence it is apparent that intense magnetic fields could inhibit

heat flow in the underdense corona region. But it seems unlikely that magnetic

fields can cause the strong inhibition observed in the overdense corona region

between the critical surface and the ablation surface.21

An alternative mechanism which might explain the inhibition in the over-

dense region is the possible presence of ion acoustic density fluctuations

(turbulence) which could scatter electrons, thereby inhibiting electron thermal

conduction.23 26 We noted earlier that there is a counter flow of cold electrons

to balance the hot electron flow. There is also a flow of ions due to the plasma

blowoff from the ablation surface. Since the ion distribution is at rest in a

frame of reference moving with the plasma blowoff or flow, while the electron

distribution is skewed (to yield a thermal flux), there is a displacement of the

maxima of each distribution. (See Figure 4.2.) This is a condition suitable for

the presence of a two-stream instability (when Te> 7)). The instability results in

the formation of ion turbulence. The electrons would then scatter off of the

turbulent ion fluctuations, thereby effectively increasing the electron-ion colli-

sion frequency vei. Calculations at Los Alamos suggest that this process can be

modeled by limiting the thermal flux characterizing free particle flow by

factors of 10 to 30.23

Although there have been several additional studies predicting the presence

of ion turbulence in the corona region, there is no general agreement on the

size of its effect on thermal conduction. The influence of turbulence on the

transport process can be crudely modeled by replacing the usual collision

frequency by an effective value due to the scattering of particles from turbulent

fluctuations. If we recall that

5nek2T,

then this model would suggest that in the turbulent region, Ke could be reduced

by turbulence by a factor vei/vM

(4.16)

Some estimates have suggested that eefr could range as large as the ion plasma

frequency upi, in which case the inhibition would be quite strong. However, it

is still not clear how effective ion turbulence is in inhibiting heat conduction in

the corona region.

Another suggested process is the presence of a Weibel-like instability due to

the anisotropy in the electron distribution function caused by the heat flow.
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This anisotropy could cause small scale magnetic perturbations which would

grow exponentially.27 The electrons would then be deflected by many small

encounters with the magnetic field fluctuations to result in an effective

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SUPRATHERMAL ELECTRON TRANSPORT

121

collision frequency

Lu,

where L is the density scale length. While the Weibel instability effect would

not be as strong (vctt<vei) as the maximum predicted for ion turbulence, it

seems to persist over wider variations in temperature and heat flux.

There are also several possible classical effects which might reduce the heat

flux. For example, the corona core decoupling mechanism mentioned in a

previous section can give rise to hot electrons with mfp,s paths much larger

than the target radius.4 These hot electrons can bounce about the corona many

times before hitting the core and depositing their energy. This effect might look

like an inhibited transport process. The electric fields produced by the counter-

flowing hot and cold electron streams could also inhibit the conduction

process.28,29 It might also be that the inhibition process arises from the failure

to correctly calculate the thermal conductivity when the electron mfp becomes

appreciable30 (say, Amfp/L~^).

However, although the particular mechanism which inhibits the thermal

transport has not been precisely identified, experimental evidence points to the

presence of this effect in laser driven targets. If we recall that most mechanisms

that could give rise to the inhibition can be modeled in terms of an effective

collision frequency, ceff, then for the inhibition process to play a significant

role, we must have ve[(> vei. Since vei at the critical density scales as the inverse

square of the wavelength of the incident light, vei~\"l2, we might expect

thermal flux inhibition to become more serious at longer wavelengths (e.g.,

10.6 /im), while being mitigated to some extent at shorter wavelengths (0.2

4.2. SUPRATHERMAL ELECTRON TRANSPORT

The implosion of ICF targets to efficient thermonuclear burn conditions

depends sensitively on the transport mechanisms that couple driver energy

deposition to the ablation-generated pressures that produce the implosion.

Most driver energy is deposited initially as electron heating in the energy

deposition region. We have already noted that there is strong evidence that the

process of electron thermal conduction into the ablation surface is sharply

reduced below the values predicted by classical theory.

Of perhaps even more concern is the mounting evidence that laser drivers

deposit a significant fraction of their energy in very high energy or suprathermal

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electrons. That is, the various mechanisms giving rise to laser light absorption

in plasmas (e.g., resonance absorption or parametric process) can produce high

energy tails on the electron distribution function. Numerous experiments and

computer simulations have confirmed the presence of these fast electrons.

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/im.

25-27
122

ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

Their presence is of particular importance, since they can stream into the core

of the target, ahead of the ablation front, preheating the fuel and resulting in

significantly reduced compressions. In addition, suprathermal electrons can

give rise to a lower ablation pressure for a given driver power, since the energy

coupling between hot and cold electrons decreases as the energy of the hot

electrons increases.

Evidence of the production of suprathermal electrons in laser irradiated

plasmas comes from several sources. A primary source has been the analysis of

X-ray emission from targets."- 31-33 As we indicate in Chapter 9, the con-

tinuum or bremsstrahlung emission from these targets can be used to infer

their temperatures. Detailed X-ray measurements have revealed that the X-ray

emission cannot be characterized by one temperature.34 Instead, there is a low

temperature distribution with a high energy tail. Fits to these data suggest that

the temperature of the hot or suprathermal component is some 10 to 20 times

that of the thermal electron component.

It is also possible to measure the fast ions that are accelerated in the space

charge field established by the freely expanding electrons leaving the low

density corona.35"38 Some recent experiments have attempted to measure the

hot electron temperatures directly.

Several theories have been advanced to explain the production of

suprathermal electrons as a result of the laser-plasma interaction process.39-40

Perhaps the most likely explanation involves a wavebreaking process induced

by resonance absorption. As we discuss in more detail in the next chapter,

resonance absorption is a process in which light incident obliquely to a plasma

density gradient can excite and drive electron plasma oscillations. The energy

coupled into the plasma oscillations can then dissipate through damping

mechanisms (e.g., Landau damping) to appear as kinetic energy of heated

electrons. If the incident light intensity is strong enough, the electron plasma

waves are driven sufficiently strongly that electrons can be accelerated to high

velocity through one wave period. At this point, wave breaking occurs in which

electrons are accelerated out of the thermal distribution and to very high

velocities—that is, suprathermal electrons are produced. A detailed analysis of

the wavebreaking process indicates that these appear as very fast electrons

moving outwards, away from the denser regions of the target. After a few of

these electrons escape the target, a space charge field develops that reflects
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these hot electrons back in toward the target core, while accelerating ions in

the plasma blowoff. Theoretical calculations32 suggest that the suprathermal

electrons can be characterized by an effective temperature

Thol (keV)~8.5[7;old (keV)],/4[//(l015 W/cm^XJl.0e^m)]039

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(4.17)

The transport of these suprathermal electrons is a particularly complex

process because of their exceptionally long mfp. If we recall that the mfp of
SUPRATHERMAL ELECTRON TRANSPORT

123

electrons scales as

_,2 4

4we4ln A

then we can estimate the mfp of 100 keV electrons as 107 fim for ne~ 1021, 105

/im for 1023, 103 jam for 1025,and 10 )im for 1027. Hence, except for the very

dense compressed core of the target, these suprathermal electrons see a

relatively transparent plasma. They tend to bounce off the space charge

potential on the outer regions of the corona, being heated to higher and higher

temperatures until they finally strike the core. At this point they can penetrate

ahead of the shock wave-ablation region, causing preheating of the pellet

fuel.41 (See Figure 4.7)

Shock

Supra thermal I "

preheating I

electrons r*

"< "C 1

Figure 4.7. Suprathermal electron transport in ICF targets.

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124

ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

An accurate description of this phenomenon would require a kinetic theory

analysis based upon a transport or kinetic equation for the electron distribu-

tion function. We consider such models based upon the Fokker-Planck equa-

tion42 in Chapter 6. In most hydrodynamic computer simulation models,

however, the suprathermal electrons are handled using multigroup diffusion

theory.* 9 To account for long mfp, a flux-limiting procedure is used.

Other phenomena complicate the description of suprathermal electron trans-

port. For example, a spatially localized hot electron component can give rise to

a two-stream instability, thereby losing energy to Langmuir turbulence as the

electrons stream inward toward the pellet core.39 The streaming can also

induce a background return current of cold electrons that could excite ion-

acoustic turbulence.40 Magnetic fields could also affect the suprathermal

electron transport process.26

It is now apparent that suprathermal electron transport plays a very signifi-

cant role in laser-driven ICF targets. This process not only complicates an

accurate description of the energy transport process from the energy deposition

region into the ablation surface, but it can also give rise to significant fuel

preheating and lead to reduced ablation pressures. In fact, the concern about

suprathermal electron production has been a major reason for the upsurge in

interest in ion-beam drivers that do not appear to suffer from this problem.

4.3. RADIATION TRANSPORT

Radiative processes and radiation transport play an important role in inertial

confinement fusion. The hot, dense plasmas produced in an ICF target emit

and reabsorb radiation at soft X-ray wavelengths. This radiation represents a

significant energy transfer mechanism and can strongly affect the implosion

and thermonuclear burn dynamics of the target. For example, the burning

thermonuclear fuel will lose energy via radiation, and this effect must be

accurately described in order to predict ignition conditions. In many target

designs the fuel is surrounded by a high-Z tamper layer to contain this

radiation. In high gain target designs, the radiation produced by the burning

fuel (at roughly 100-keV temperatures) is reabsorbed by the surrounding

tamper and ablated target material (at temperatures of several keV).

Radiative transfer also plays an important role in the implosion process.

This effect must be accurately described if the energy transfer to the ablation

surface is to be properly programmed to achieve an optimum shock conver-

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gence. Even a small change in these energy transfer rates from the design

optimum can significantly degrade the efficiency of the implosion process.

X-ray emission from the target is an important diagnostic signature in ICF

experiments. Measures of the spatial and temporal distribution of the radiation

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emitted from ICF targets is a primary source of information about the

implosion process. Furthermore, a detailed understanding of the X-ray produc-

tion from ICF targets is essential to the design of suitable blast chambers in

ICF reactor concepts.

RADIATION TRANSPORT

125

The study of radiative processes in ICF targets is complicated by the fact

that the models appropriate for describing the production, transport, and

absorption vary significantly from region to region of the target. For example,

while local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) models are usually sufficient for

describing radiative transfer within the compressed inner layers of the tamper

and fuel, in the expanding ablation material, coronal models or sometimes

even fully non-LTE/rate equation models must be used. In this section we

review the models used to describe radiation production and radiative transfer

in ICF targets.

4.3.1. THE RADIATION FIELD

In a broad sense radiative transfer encompasses all phenomena involving the

propagation of electromagnetic radiation and its interaction with matter. For

example, radiative transfer problems arise in astrophysics, meteorology, pho-

tometry, high spied gas dynamics (radiation hydrodynamics), and plasma

physics. In analyzing radiative transfer it is customary to emphasize the

particle aspect of electromagnetic radiation by considering the radiation field

to be composed of a "photon gas" and then applying traditional methods of

kinetic theory.43"49 For example, we can introduce a photon phase space

density or distribution similar to those used in the kinetic theory of gases:

expected number of photons of

/ a \ , ,1 ,a frequency v in dv, in volume d3r

n(r,ll,v,t)dvdirdtl= u . . ,• • A- .-

' about r, traveling in direction

\l in at time /

In radiative transfer studies it is more convenient to work with the radiation

specific intensity or spectral intensity function I,(r, fl, /), defined by

If we recall that photons move with a speed c (ignoring refraction effects) and

are characterized by an energy E=hv, we can identify Iv(r,(l, t)dvdCi as the

radiant energy in the spectral interval dv passing through a unit area per unit

time with a direction Q in d(t. That is, the spectral intensity /„(r, (l, t) can be

identified as just the photon energy angular flux.

The spectral radiant energy density is then defined as

«,(r.0 = -( I,(r,tl,t)dSl

C J4iT

while the spectral energy flux vector is given by

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S„(r,/)= f QI,(r,(lj)dtl
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126

ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

Using these concepts, we can derive an equation of radiative transfer for the

spectral intensity by balancing the change in I„ due to photon streaming or

transport against the change in /„ due to sources and sinks:

1 9/

- -— + tl - V /,=change in /„ due to sources and sinks

=y,(r,ft,0-*,(r.0/,(r.ft,0 (4.17)

where we have denoted the photon emission and absorption terms by j, and

k„I„ (and explicitly noted that the absorption rate is linearly proportional to

the spectral intensity /,). These terms are more commonly expressed in terms

of the photon mass emission coefficient e„ defined by

. _ _ rate of radiant energy emitted per unit

^r per phase space volume

and mass attenuation coefficient

_ _ rate of radiant energy absorption per

„ „ K„ ' unit phase space volume

where p(r, /) is the mass density of the host material. Photon scattering

processes are customarily included in the definitions of e, and (c„ (since a

scattering event corresponds to the absorption followed by the reemission of a

photon).

The equation of radiative transfer can then be written as

i^+ftv/„=p(r,0[-K,(r,OA(rAO+e,(M)] (4.18)

In writing this equation, we have also neglected polarization and dispersion

(dependence of the refraction index on v) and collective effects (correlations),

and we have assumed an isotropic medium, permitting us to regard photon

interactions as independent, successive isolated events. Coherent phenomena

such as the reflection of light are also omitted from this description.

The radiation source corresponding to spontaneous emission processes is

isotropic in nature. Hence we can define the spontaneous emission coefficient

Jt as

The optical characteristics of a material are determined by an attenuation

coefficient n„ which consists of the absorption and scattering coefficients

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RADIATION TRANSPORT

127

Attenuation of photons is described by the familiar form

/,(*) =/,(0)exp -fn,(x*)dx*

The optical thickness of a layer x with respect to the photon frequency v is

given by the dimensionless quantity

Materials opaque to radiation at frequency v are characterized by t„ > 1, while

materials transparent to radiation at this frequency have t„ < 1.

To calculate the absorption and emission coefficients k„ and e, appearing in the

radiative transfer equation, we must consider the possible interaction mecha-

nisms for a photon propagating through a material. Such processes are

associated with transitions between the energy levels of the atoms (or ions)

comprising the host material. The change in the internal energy will be equal to

the radiant energy absorbed or emitted.

A variety of different processes may be involved, but of most interest to ICF

plasmas are bound-bound, bound-free, and free-free electronic transitions

involving photons at X-ray wavelengths.50- 51 When an atom or ion passes from

a higher to a lower energy state, the process is accompanied by the emission of

a photon with an energy (or frequency) corresponding to the difference

between the energy levels. Conversely, a bound electron can absorb a photon

and move to a higher energy level. For sufficiently large photon energies (or

multiple photon interactions), photoionization becomes important. Photore-

combination can also be an important emission process. Free-free electron

processes include bremsstrahlung in which an electron emits a photon as it

decelerates in the field of a ion, and inverse bremsstrahlung in which an

electron in the field of an ion absorbs an incident photon.

Both capture and scattering processes contribute to the absorption coeffi-

cient kp. The emission coefficient ey represents the effective photon source

term. Every capture process that appears in k„ has an inverse that contributes

to e„. These inverse processes may be stimulated by a preceding absorption or

they may occur spontaneously. In an isotropic medium, the stimulated emis-

sion propagates in the same direction (in phase) as the incident radiation;

therefore it is customary to subtract out this component by defining

4.3.2. RADIATIVE PROCESSES

k,„ = capture — stimulated emission + scattering

i,y=spontaneous emission + scattering

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128

ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

The detailed calculation of the absorption and emission coefficients for

bound-bound and bound-free transitions are complex and involve the detailed

atomic structure of the atom or ion species involved. Bound-bound transitions

(line radiation) are characterized by very large absorption coefficients that are

very strongly peaked functions of frequency (corresponding to resonances at

the energy level spacing, hv=E—E}). Absorption coefficients for free-bound

transitions behave as v"3 between the bound electronic states and take large

jumps at energies corresponding to the ionization potential of the bound

electrons.

The determination of photon interaction rates depends directly on the state

populations of the various atomic energy levels. Hence any consideration of

photon transport must involve the rate equations for these population densi-

ties, Ni, which take the form52

dN "

-^ + V(N,u)= 2 WuNJ, i=\,...,n (4.19)

7=1

The rate coefficients Wu in these equations involve a variety of processes in

addition to photon interactions. Of most importance are electron impact

processes such as excitation and deexcitation by free electrons and electron

impact ionization and three-body ionization. The subject of photon interac-

tions in radiative transfer processes can become very complicated indeed.

Fortunately, in many cases one can simplify this analysis considerably by

assuming that the medium is in thermodynamic equilibrium (or at least in

partial equilibrium).

4.3.3. EQUILIBRIUM MODELS

The simplest equilibrium model assumes that both the medium and the

radiation field are in thermodynamic equilibrium at a temperature T. This is

the case of black-body radiation. In this model, the radiative energy emitted

per unit volume in frequency interval dv about v is exactly equal to the energy

absorbed per unit volume in this frequency interval. The equilibrium radiation

is isotropic and is independent of the specific properties of the medium.

Detailed balance arguments43, 46 can be used to show that the equilibrium

radiation energy density is given by

This spectral energy density function is known as the Planck distribution (the

radiation is said to be in "Planckian" equilibrium). It should be noted that the

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Planck distribution is a function only of the frequency v and the temperature

T. The most probable energy in the Planck distribution is 2.822 kT. The
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RADIATION TRANSPORT

129

frequency-integrated radiant energy density is given by

Up= ru?dv= -a74 = 7.57X 10-15r4 ergs/cm3

Jo c

where T is in K and a is the Stephan-Boltzmann constant, o = 5.67X10"5

ergs/cm2 s K4. Hence the total radiant energy density is proportional to the

fourth power of the temperature for equilibrium radiation. Clearly, at high

temperatures such as those characterizing ICF thermonuclear burn, the radia-

tion energy density is quite large.

As an example, consider D-T fuel burning at a density of 200 g/cm3 and a

temperature of 50 keV.53 The plasma thermal energy of the fuel is

£plasma =1(1+ Z)nkT= 1.224 X 1019 ergs/cm3

The corresponding radiant energy density is

Up=*oT4 = 8.57X 1020 ergs/cm3

Hence at typical thermonuclear burn conditions the radiation contributes more

to the energy density of the fuel than does the thermal energy of the D-T

plasma. This example is not totally valid because the D-T fuel is actually thin

to the radiation, and the equilibrium energy density approximation is not

correct. However, the example does illustrate how important radiation effects

can become.

The radiant flux integrated over frequency is

Sp= fXSpdp = aT4

We can also calculate the emission and absorption coefficients for Planckian

equilibrium. To calculate the emission coefficient, we recall that both sponta-

neous and stimulated emission must be taken into account. When this is done,

the emission term can be written as

For equilibrium, the emission and absorption coefficients can be related by

detailed balance43 to find

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130 ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

or in terms of the radiant energy density

J=*nj=cup„K,{\-e"h'/kT)

Thus far we have assumed that both the radiation field and the material are

in thermodynamic equilibrium. A somewhat less restrictive model assumes that

the material, but not the radiation field is in local thermodynamic equilibrium

(LTE) which is maintained by electron collision processes. That is, the radia-

tion field is assumed to be sufficiently dilute that electron excitation and

ionization exceed photon-induced processes to yield an equilibrium condition

in which the state populations are related by the Boltzmann factor:

Ha

Then the photon emission processes are essentially independent of the radia-

tion field and are given by the Planck distribution

Ihv^/c2

k,„ e\p(hv/kT)—\

(4.22)

(This relationship is known as Kirchhoff s law.)

A somewhat different model takes the opposite extreme by assuming that

both the free electron density and the radiation field are dilute enough to

permit excited atoms to emit spontaneously and ionized atoms to recombine

by photorecombination. In this corona equilibrium model there is no collisonal

excitation or deexcitation; therefore to achieve equilibrium, the electron impact

ionization and photorecombination processes are balanced.

In many instances these quasi-equilibrium models are inadequate and one is

forced to a fully non-LTE calculation in which coupled rate equations for stale

population densities must be solved simultaneously with the equation of

radiation transfer (and perhaps also with the hydrodynamics equations char-

acterizing the motion of the host medium).52

4.3.4. MODELS OF RADIATIVE TRANSFER

We can rewrite the equation of radiative transfer for a medium in local

thermodynamic equilibrium as

I^+ft.v/.=<(/;-i.)

Since this equation is similar to those arising in other transport phenomena

(e.g., neutron transport or gas dynamics), one can apply well-known methods

to its analysis.44"49
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RADIATION TRANSPORT

131

Perhaps the most popular approach is to take angular moments of the

radiative transfer equation. Integrating the equation over solid angle, one finds

a continuity equation for the radiant energy density

9u, p

If the transfer equation is multiplied by fi" and then integrated over solid

angle, one arrives at moment equations of higher order.45 However, it is

customary to truncate this hierarchy by assuming that the radiant intensity

/,(r, tl, t) is nearly isotropic so that the radiant energy density can be related to

the energy flux by a diffusion approximation:

This leads to a diffusion equation for the spectral radiant energy density

vDvu,+ck',u,=J, (4.23)

This equation can be solved by any of the standard methods used for diffusion

problems. One popular method is multigroup flux-limited diffusion theory.9

There is an important difference from conventional diffusion problems such

as those encounted in heat conduction or neutron transport problems. The

emission coefficient, the absorption coefficient and the diffusion coefficient,

are strong functions of the plasma temperature.50,51 Hence the radiation

diffusion equation is highly nonlinear. Furthermore, unlike other particle

diffusion processes in which the particles diffuse through a background,

suffering scattering collisions which tend to randomize their distribution, the

photons "diffuse" through a sequence of absorption and reemission processes.

Radiation diffusing into a cold region raises its temperature, thereby changing

the properties of the diffusion process. For this reason the radiation diffusion

equation cannot be treated by itself but rather must be coupled to the

hydrodynamic description of the medium to arrive at a self-consistent picture.

This is most often accomplished by including coupling terms between the

radiation diffusion and electron temperature equations. In the radiation diffu-

sion model the relevant terms are

J, — CK„U„

while in the electron temperature equation the terms of importance are

The frequency dependence is generally treated in a multigroup approximation

so that the integrals are replaced with sums.

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132 ENERGY TRANSPORT IN ICF PLASMAS

A somewhat more accurate approximation to the radiative transfer equation

involves obtaining the next moment equation

1 8S

~ + vp,+<s,=o

c at

where P„ is the radiation pressure tensor, defined by

P„(r,0 = - f a(lIy(r,tl,t)dtl

c Mir

To close this set of equations, one can introduce an approximation known as

the variable Eddington factor approximation by setting

P„(r,0=/,(r,/)«,(r,0 (4.24)

Here, /„(r, t) is known as the Eddington factor. A variety of prescriptions have

been given for calculating this quantity.52-53

A somewhat simpler approximation involves assuming local thermodynamic

equilibrium so that we can replace uy with Up. This approximation is known as

the radiation conduction approximation43 since it leads to a thermal conduc-

tion equation for the combined plasma-radiation fluid with a conduction

law of

S=-!§vUr=-^f-VT (4.25)

where / is the Rosseland mean free path, defined as

r{K,)-\dupjdT)dv

1= " ,00, ; (4.26)

/ (dup/dT)dv

This approximation is good for optically thick materials where gradients in the

material temperature are small. The earlier diffusion approximation only

requires the constraint that the material is optically thick so that gradients in u„

are small. This is the most appropriate approximation for ICF targets where

strong material temperature gradients can exist. If the simpler radiative con-

duction model is used, then we again have a nonlinear temperature equation,

just as in the case of electron thermal conduction considered in Section 4.1.

However, in this case the effective thermal conductivity has a different

temperature dependence

K~/(T)T3

Many of the same analytical methods can be used to study this nonlinear
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REFERENCES 133

thermal conduction equation—with many of the same results (e.g., wavelike as

opposed to diffusive behavior).3

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namic Phenomena (New York, Academic 1966).

4. R. E. Kidder and J. H. Zink, "Decoupling of Corona and Core of Laser-Heated Pellets,"

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5. G. A. Moses, "Laser Fusion Hydrodynamics Calculations", Nucl. Sci. Eng. 64, 49 (1977).

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7. H. Saltzmann, "The Applicability of Fourier,s Theory of Heat Conduction on Laser Pro-

duced Plasmas," Phys. Lett. 41A, 363 (1972).

8. G. B. Zimmerman, "Calculational Results Concerning Some Laser Initiated Fusion Pro-

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9. G. B. Zimmerman and H. L. Kruer, "Numerical Simulation of Laser Initiated Fusion,"

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Kinetic Theory." J. Slat. Phys. 11, 291 (1974).

11. B. Ripin, P. Burkhalter, F. Young, J. McMahon, D. Colombant, S. Bodner, R. Whitlock, D.

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12. J. Stamper and B. Ripin, "Faraday-Rotation Measurements of Megagauss Magnetic Fields in

Laser-Produced Plasmas." Phys. Rev. Lett. 34, 138 (1975).

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16. B. Yaakobi and T. C. Bristow, "Measurement of Reduced Thermal Conduction in (Layered)

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17. F. Young, R. Whitlock, R. Decoste, B. Ripin, D. Nagel, J. Stamper, J. McMahon, and S.

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30.45 (1977).

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High Intensities with a 1.06 /im Laser," Phys. Rev. Lett. 37. 489 (1976).
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19. M. D. Rosen, et al., "The Interaction of 1.06 um Laser Radiation with High-Z Disk Targets,"

Phys. Fluids 22. 2020 (1979).

20. J. D. Hares, J. D. Kilkenny, M. H. Key. and J. G. Lunncy, "Measurement of Fast Electron

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22. S. Braginskii. Review of Plasma Physics, Vol. I (New York, Consultants Bureau, 1965), p.

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Multistreaming and the Viability of Fluid Codes," Phys. Fluids 19, 1788 (1976).

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Plasma," Plasma Phys. 22, 81 (1980).

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Intensity," Phys. Rev. Lett. 39, 284 (1977).

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FIVE

Driver Energy Deposition

We now turn our attention to the absorption of the incident driver beam

energy in the target. The detailed absorption mechanism depends on the driver

type. Energy deposition by intense laser beams involves a host of complex

processes characterizing the interaction of light (electromagnetic waves) with

plasmas. Electron and ion beam drivers involve the slowing down of energetic

charged particles in a plasma.

The classical mechanisms for both laser and charged particle beam energy

deposition in plasmas involve charged particle collision processes. The electric

field of an incident laser beam causes electrons in the target plasma to

oscillate. This oscillation energy is converted into thermal energy as the

electrons collide with ions. In a similar sense, energetic charged particles

incident on the target slow down via charged particle collisions with the

background plasma.

However, driver energy deposition in inertial confinement fusion targets is

not restricted to such collisional processes. Indeed, since charged particle

collision frequencies decrease rapidly with increasing temperature, classical

absorption mechanisms can become rather ineffective at thermonuclear tem-

peratures. Rather the driver energy deposition mechanisms of most interest

involve various "anomalous" (or inadequately understood) processes that arise

as a consequence of the high beam intensity or incident particle energy. For

example, an incident laser beam or charged particle beam can couple to

collective modes in the target corona plasma and drive the plasma into a

turbulent state. This turbulence can lead to enhanced absorption. It can also

act to reflect or scatter the incident beam from the target.

In this chapter we consider a variety of processes that are thought to

characterize the interaction of the driver beams with the target and lead to

driver energy deposition. Since a detailed study of such driver-target interac-

tion mechanisms can become rather involved (e.g., venturing into imposing

136
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LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS

137

subjects such as plasma turbulence and relativistic beam-plasma interactions),

we will confine ourselves for the most part to a qualitative discussion.

5.1. LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS

Laser light can interact in a variety of ways with a plasma. The plasma can

refract, reflect, and/or absorb incident laser light. The simplest energy deposi-

tion mechanism is inverse bremsstrahlung or collisional absorption of the light.

We recall that bremsstrahlung corresponds to the emission of radiation (pho-

tons) when a charged particle is decelerated, for example, when an electron

emits a photon in a collision with an ion. Inverse bremsstrahlung occurs when

an incident photon is absorbed by an electron in the Coulomb field of an ion.

A simpler way to think of inverse bremsstrahlung is to consider the motion

of an electron in the oscillating electric field of an incident electromagnetic

wave (the incident light beam). As the electrons oscillate in this field, they

collide with ions, thereby converting the directed energy of the oscillation into

the random energy of thermal motion. In other words, the oscillating electrons

correspond to a current induced in the plasma by the incident light beam that

then leads to resistive heating of the plasma due to charged particle collisions.

In this way, the incident light energy is deposited in the form of increased

electron thermal energy (temperature). Since this process depends on electron-

ion collisions, we might expect that the absorption coefficient would scale as

the electron-ion collision frequency vei. We also know that vei scales with

temperature as T"3/2. Hence as the plasma temperature increases, the colli-

sional or inverse bremsstrahlung process becomes less effective. For example,

the absorption length for 1.06-/tm light propagating in a plasma characterized

by a temperature Te~ 1 keV and an effective charge Z~3 is about 100 fim. An

increase in the plasma temperature to 10 keV would increase the absorption

length to 3000 /im—the plasma would become essentially transparent to the

incident light. Furthermore, for high beam intensities, the absorption coeffi-

cient can become intensity dependent (so-called nonlinear bremsstrahlung) and

decrease as a power of the beam intensity. Thus for high temperature plasmas

and high intensity laser light, the classical inverse bremsstrahlung absorption

mechanism can become quite ineffective.

Fortunately there are other absorption mechanisms present that involve the

coupling of the incident light into waves in the plasma. More specifically, the

oscillation of the electrons in the electric field of the incident light across a
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variation in the plasma density drives a charge density fluctuation. If the

incident light frequency is comparable to the electron plasma frequency, then

this coupling can resonantly drive electron plasma waves. There are two

primary sources of a plasma density gradient that lead to this coupling. The
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plasma blowoff resulting from the ablation process leads to an absorption

process involving obliquely incident laser light known as resonance absorption.

The density fluctuations from other plasma waves such as ion acoustic waves
138

DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

can lead to the parametric excitation of plasma instabilities and thereby

enhanced absorption.

The interaction of laser light with the plasma surrounding the target can

become quite complex. Not only can such anomalous processes enhance

absorption, but they can also lead to processes that focus the beam into narrow

filaments (self-focusing and filamentation) or reflect the beam from the target

(stimulated scattering). The coupling of light energy into the plasma waves (by

either resonance absorption or parametric excitation processes) can produce

high energy or suprathermal electrons. The incident light can also produce a

ponderomotive force that modifies the density profile of the blowoff plasma,

steepening this profile or rippling its surface. Some of the mechanisms that

may arise in laser-plasma interactions in inertial confinement fusion targets are

indicated schematically in Figure 5.1.

In this section we discuss both collisional and collective light absorption

processes in plasmas. However, it is useful to begin with a brief discussion of

the various ways in which intense light can interact with matter in general.

5.1.1. THE INTERACTION OF INTENSE LASER RADIATION

WITH MATTER

The electromagnetic energy density at the focal spot of a high-powered pulsed

laser reaches incredible magnitudes. By way of orientation, the parameters

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LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS

139

Table 5.1 Focal Spot Parameters Characterizing an Incident

Nd Laser Beam of 10 kJ Energy, 100 ps Pulse Length,

and 10 3 cm2 Focal Spot Area

Focused intensity

IOl8W/cm2

Energy density

3X107 J/cm3

Photon density

3X 1025 photons/cm3

1010 V/cm

8nra

50 MG

Average kinetic

5keV

energy of electron

oscillating in laser

field

characterizing the focal spot of a 10,000-J Nd glass laser beam, delivered in a

100-ps pulse on a focal spot area of 10"3 cm2 are given in Table 5.1. The

energy density in the focal spot, 3X 107 J/cm3 is well above the energy density

of electron binding to an atomic nucleus, 4X 10s J/cm3 (although it is also well

below the nuclear energy densities of 10" J/cm3).

Therefore, if this very intense laser light is focused on a solid target, rather

major transformations in the target surface occur. Not only is the solid surface

vaporized, but it is ionized as well, producing a high density plasma that

continues to absorb the incident laser light. The very rapid temperature

increase at the surface of the solid causes the laser-produced plasma to blow

off or ablate towards the laser beam. This, in turn, drives an intense hydrody-

namic shock wave into the solid.1

Heating without Phase Change. For sufficiently low light intensities, /<107

W/cm2, the incident laser light merely heats the target surface without melting

or vaporizing it. The incident light is absorbed (and partially reflected) within

a skin depth of the surface. This absorbed energy is then transferred into the

interior of the target by thermal conduction.

Laser Induced Melting and Evaporation. For somewhat higher intensities,

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7~ 106— 109 W/cm2, the incident laser energy will actually melt or evaporate

the solid surface. One usually finds vaporization of the surface as opposed to

melting. The mechanism for vaporization depends on the laser light intensity

(the pulse width).

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For longer pulses at low intensities, V~106—107 W/cm2, the laser light

produces deep, narrow holes in the surface. There is very little blowoff of the

vapor produced at the surface. Typically a 10J pulse delivered in 1 ms will

produce a crater of about 1 mm in depth.

For higher intensity at shorter pulse lengths, 7~109 W/cm2, only a small

amount of the target material is vaporized. However, this vapor cloud or

blowoff can interact with the incident laser light, absorbing the light and

shielding the surface. Since higher intensities produce high pressures that drive
140

DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

the vapor away from the surface at high velocities, the back reaction from the

blowoff drives strong shock waves into the solid target itself. For example, a

10 J pulse delivered in 30 ns will ablate only 1 to 3 /im of surface material.

Laser Induced Ionization and Gas Breakdown. It has been known for some

time that sufficiently intense laser light can ionize materials. In particular, the

focal spot of a large pulsed laser is capable of creating a "spark" in air, that is,

producing gas breakdown.2- 3 The threshold of this phenomenon is usually

around /~1010 W/cm2.

There appear to be two essential processes involved in such breakdown

phenomena: the production of an initial ionization and then the subsequent

growth of this ionization. The second process is usually taken as an avalanche

mechanism. If there are free electrons in the gas, they will be rapidly accel-

erated to high energies by the electric field of the incident laser light. In a very

short time they will have achieved sufficiently high energy to ionize other

atoms and produce more free electrons—and so on in a cascading ionization

process.

The initial or "priming" ionization is more difficult to understand, since the

photons present in the incident laser beam have energies hv many times less

than the ionization potential of most atoms. For example, it would take the

simultaneous absorption of 43 CO2 laser photons to ionize a lithium atom.

Such very high order multiphoton processes are very improbable. Nevertheless,

in the very high photon densities of the laser focal spot, such a mechanism can

become significant. Other explanations for the initial ionization include the

presence of impurities, and also a distortion of the atomic electron energy

levels in the very high intensity laser electric field that effectively lowers the

ionization potential.

The calculation of the laser light threshold at which ionization occurs in a

gas is rather complicated, and experimental verification is difficult. For-

tunately at the very high intensities used in most applications (in excess of 1012

W/cm2), the ionization of the target can be regarded as essentially instanta-

neous, regardless of the actual mechanism involved. (Here we need only recall

that the kinetic energy of a free electron oscillating in the electric field of an

incident laser beam is typically a keV or more.) Hence one usually considers

the interaction of high intensity laser light with an ICF target to initially

involve a dense, low temperature (~5eV) plasma.

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5.1.2. COLLISIONAL (INVERSE BREMSSTRAHLUNG)

ABSORPTION OF LASER LIGHT IN PLASMAS

The classical mechanism for laser light absorption in plasmas is inverse

bremsstrahlung or free-free absorption in which a photon is absorbed by a free

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electron in the field of an ion. However, a more intuitive description of the

absorption process would be to recognize that the incident electric field of the

laser light oscillates free electrons. (The ions also oscillate, but their motion can

be neglected because of their much larger mass.) This directed energy of

LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS

141

electron motion is randomized and hence converted into heat energy by

electron collisions with ions. In other words, the incident laser electric field

drives electron currents, and the resistivity represented by electron-ion colli-

sions leads to "Joule heating" of the plasma.

To analyze this process in more detail,4, 5 consider the propagation of a

linearly polarized plane electromagnetic wave in a medium as described by

Maxwell,s equations. We take the propagation vector along the z axis and the

electric field vector along the x axis (see Figure 5.2) so that Maxwell,s

equations become

9£ _

8z - 9/

35 ,, I 3£

Here J represents the current induced by the electromagnetic wave in the x

direction. This current can be calculated if we consider the motion of an

electron in the electric field as described by its equation of motion for the x

coordinate of velocity, m,

du

m — +mv.lu= — eE

dt "

Here, the electron-ion collision frequency has been introduced as a friction

term in this equation. The induced current density can then be calculated in

terms of u as

J = neeu

Figure 5.2. Coordinate system for analyzing inverse bremsstrahlung.

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142 DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

To solve these equations, we seek a plane wave solution in the form

E=Eixei<k'+'")

We can then solve for the electron velocity as

u=e E !^]eHkz+ul)

and hence for the current density

7=

e^n. I iu-v.

where it is convenient to define the plasma frequency up

t0r

If we substitute this current into the field equations, we arrive at a relation

between the propagation wave number k and the laser light frequency a, that

is, a dispersion relation for the laser light propagation in the plasma:

( w ) 1 u2 + vl) (1 + < w )

Since k is, in general, complex, the incident light is attenuated as it propagates.

In particular, the index of refraction n, is given by

1/2

while the energy absorption coefficient is given by

K=2Im{fc}=2-

'c

£+1

22

211/2

1/2

where

/3=1

(02 + r„2,
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LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS

143

Light Propagation in Plasmas. Before continuing to examine the absorption

process, it is important to note that for i»e,«w, the index of refraction simplifies

to

When the plasma frequency becomes larger than the light frequency, up>u,

the index of refraction ni becomes imaginary. This means that light cannot

propagate in the plasma when up>u. The blowoff plasmas characteristic of

inertial confinement fusion targets have a density gradient similar to that

shown in Figure 5.3. Since the plasma frequency scales as density, a ~n1/2, it

is apparent that laser light incident from the lower density ("underdense")

region can only propagate up to the density at which u>p becomes equal to w.

This limit is usually referred to as the critical density, and it is defined more

explicitly as

where w0 is the frequency of the incident laser light. The incident laser light

will then be reflected at the critical density. From a more physical point of

view, in the underdense region where the light frequency exceeds the plasma

frequency, the electron inertia is sufficient to keep the material current in

phase with the displacement current. In the overdense region where the light

frequency is less than the plasma frequency, the material current opposes the

displacement current in the light field, and the wave cannot propagate.

Several other comments are of use at this point. Since the index of refraction

nt is less than one, the light is refracted away from regions of higher density. In

a later section we discuss the fact that most light absorption in a plasma occurs

at or near the critical density nec.

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144 DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

Table 5.2 The Critical Density for Various Laser Wavelengths

Laser

Type

X0(fim)

hv(eV)

pc (g/cm3)

n,c (cm 3)

UV i

Excimer

0.25

5.4

7.0X102

2.2X10"

Nd(X4)J

Nd(X2)

0.50

2.5

1.5X10 2

4.5X1021

Nd

1.06

1.17

3.3X10"3

102'

co2

10.6

0.117

3.3X10 5

1019

Another important parameter that characterizes the plasma's response to the

incident light is the "quiver velocity" with which the electrons oscillate in the

light wave's electric field:

IU3 — V.

el

eE

The corresponding kinetic energy of the oscillating electron is given as

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where / is the average intensity of the incident light. We have tabulated the

critical density n,c, the quiver velocity u0, the quiver energy (KE)ox, and

several other parameters characterizing laser light of different wavelengths in

Table 5.2.
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Classical Absorption. In the underdense region of the blowoff plasma

where the laser light absorption occurs, the collision frequency is much smaller

than the frequency of the incident laser light, i»f(«w0. Then we can simplify our

dispersion relation to

Hence we can solve for k(u0)

LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS

145

We can then calculate the absorption coefficient as

M [l

1/2

If we now substitute in an explicit form for the electron-ion collision frequency

vei, we can write the absorption coefficient characterizing inverse bremsstrah-

lung 4-6 as

£=(2.)'/2(-^)

ZnVln A

c(w^rf)3/2^(i-(w>^))

I2

where

Ze2

/2

Let us examine this expression in more detail.7 For fixed plasma density ne

and temperature Te, it appears that k~1/wo~A20, and hence we might expect

that longer wavelength radiation is absorbed more effectively. However, this is

a misleading comparison, since most absorption occurs near the critical density

nec corresponding to a plasma frequency up = u0. It is more illuminating to

rewrite the absorption coefficient in an alternative form

*2

(1-0)

1/2 *0r

where <p=ne/nec and k0c is the absorption coefficient characterizing the

critical density,

"or=7 (",="«)

Actually, k0c is the most appropriate measure of the effective absorption

coefficient for laser light of a given wavelength. Since the collision frequency

scales as vei~ne, it is apparent that k0(~wo- Hence the effective absorption

length decreases rapidly as the wavelength of the incident laser light decreases

(see Figure 5.4).

Effect of Plasma Density Gradients. The plasma blowoff cloud surrounding

an ICF target is characterized by a density variation ne(x) (assuming a plane

geometry for the moment). Hence the effective absorption of the incident beam
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TO

> „ 1cm I

Fijjure 5.4. The dependence of the effective absorption length characterizing inverse

bremsstrahlung upon wavelength and temperature.

must take into account the variation of the absorption coefficient, k(x), caused

by this spatial density gradient.5 8 More specifically, the absorption would be

given by

For a linear density gradient. ne(x) = necx/L, this expression yields the beam

absorption (including absorption of both the incident and reflected beam)

where we can write

Absorption = 1 — exp( — j§K0rL)

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LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS

147

For an exponential density profile, n(x)=finei£xp( — x/L), the coefficient in

the above expression is modified to

It should be apparent that the absorption depends essentially on the dimen-

sionless factor, k0cL, that is, the ratio of the "scale height" L of the density

profile to the absorption length at the critical density, Kg/. For appreciable

inverse bremsstrahlung absorption to occur, the plasma cloud must be char-

acterized by a scale height on the order of an absorption length in the

neighborhood of the critical density nec.

Nonlinear Bremsstrahlung. There are many modifications that can arise in

this simple picture of light absorption in plasmas. For sufficiently low tempera-

tures, bound-bound and bound-free absorption can occur. At higher intensi-

ties, the strong electric field of the light will distort the distribution of electron

thermal velocities, hence modifying the collision frequency vei and leading to a

dependence of the absorption coefficient k on the light intensity / (hence the

name nonlinear bremsstrahlung). This latter effect occurs at light intensities at

which the energy of oscillation of the electrons in the light beam electric field is

comparable to their thermal energy.

Although the detailed calculation of the effect of intense light on the

electron distribution function fe(\) is cumbersome, several qualitative features

of such an effect will be discussed. In the simplest model, the electron

distribution function fe(\) is assumed to remain roughly Maxwellian, but the

electron-ion collision frequency vei is modified because the electron velocity v

must now include the quivering component u0-9-15 'n trus case one finds that

the absorption coefficient is modified to

Since (u0/vlh)2= (KE)^/kT, it is apparent that for large incident light

intensities, the absorption coefficient will decrease as /"'.

A more detailed calculation16, 17 which takes into account the fact that fe(v)

will be perturbed from a Maxwellian finds that

8-*[l-(l + f)(l-/0,/2], (*<0

(KE)ox~kTe

K
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DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

where

eV

The absorption coefficient predicted by this estimate can be reduced by as

much as a factor of two over that for the usual ("linear") inverse bremsstrah-

lung process.

Although there is little doubt that such effects can be present, direct

experimental evidence is scant because of the presence of a variety of other

processes that set in at lower beam intensities (e.g., resonance absorption and

stimulated scattering).

When light is incident on a spatially inhomogeneous plasma, electrostatic

waves are generated whenever the light has a component of the electric field E

along the density gradient Vn. In particular, when ^-polarized light (with £

parallel to the plane of incidence) is incident obliquely on the density gradient,

then the component of the light E field parallel to the plasma density gradient

can drive electron plasma waves (see Figure 5.5). Near the critical density the

electric field becomes very large and will resonantly excite these waves. Hence

one finds an energy transfer mechanism from the light into the waves, and

eventually through the damping of the waves into the electron temperature:

oblique electron electron

light I plasma T temperature

(Notice that if the light is s-polarized, with E out of the plane of incidence,

there will be no coupling to the plasma waves.) This process is known as

5.1.3. RESONANCE ABSORPTION

waves

resonance

absorption

wave

damping

Figure 5.3. Resonance absorption occurs

when the light is obliquely incident upon a

density gradient.
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LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS 149

resonance absorption}'25 It is now felt that this is a dominant mechanism

involved in the absorption of laser light in ICF targets.

A Simple Model of Resonance Absorption.22 26 Consider a nonuniform

plasma driven by a uniform electric field of strength Ed and frequency w0. We

can combine Maxwell,s equations,

V E = 4wp

to find

v(4.J+f )=0

or

where the average represents the spatially independent component. We neglect

ion motion and linearize to write

J=-en0(z)u

where u is the oscillation velocity. If we differentiate with respect to time and

use the linearized equation of motion, we find

^+wl(z)E+rel^ = -[aj(z)-(^(z))]E^Uot

If we assume a field £~exp(/w0t), we find a response

u2p(z)Ed

—2 2

If we assume a linear density gradient, n(z)=nei(z/L), we can compute the

power absorbed from the laser driver field:

p _ fPe,\E\2 UoLE2

Notice in particular that the collision frequency vei cancels out in this expres-

sion. That is, the amount of resonance absorption is independent of the

detailed wave damping mechanism.

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150

DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

At

Figure 5.6. Coordinate system for analyzing resonance absorption.

Oblique Incidence.26 In the more general case, the light is incident

obliquely upon a plasma density gradient as shown in Figure 5.6. The

dispersion relation characterizing the light wave is

For /7-polarized light (in the y — z plane), there is a component of the electric

field vector, En, along the density gradient. To analyze this, we need to

compute this component and then use it for Ed in our earlier modeled problem

result. Kruer22 shows that the component of the electric field which drives the

resonant process is

where L is the scale height (assuming a linear density gradient). The fractional

absorption can then be calculated as

The maximum distance of penetration occurs where k.=0, or at

n,=neccos

where

T=(fcoL)1/3sin0

</>(T) = 2.31Texp(-ji-3)
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LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS

151

05

20

40

60

80

Figure 5.7. Fractional absorption for various angles of incidence and scale lengths.

The fractional absorption is plotted in Figure 5.7 as a function of incident

angle.

For resonance absorption to occur, the electric field of the incident wave

must tunnel from the turning point at neccos26 to the critical density nec. If the

angle of incidence, 6, is too large, the light will be turned away too far from the

critical density. If the angle 6 is too small, the component of the electric field

parallel to the density gradient, En, is too small at the turning point. In both of

these instances, there will be little resonance absorption. The angle of incidence

for maximum absorption is given by

The range of angles, A0, for which there is appreciable absorption depends on

the scale height L. For scale heights large compared to the laser wavelength,

L»A0, there is absorption for only a narrow range of incident angles, A0. For

shorter scale heights, L<10A0, resonance absorption occurs for a broad range

of angles A0. For example, for current experiments on small targets, L = 1 /tm

with A0= 1.06 fim, the optimum angle of incidence is 20. Reactor grade targets

for which L~ 1000 /im would require an angle of incidence of as small as 3°. It

is difficult to see how such small angles of incidence could be produced under

conditions of uniform illumination. Fortunately, the ponderomotive forces

produced by the incident light modify the blowoff plasma density profile,

steepening it and shortening the scale height in such a manner as to increase

resonance absorption. In any event, however, the fraction of incident light that

can be absorbed by the resonance process is limited to roughly 50%.

Nonlinear Effects and Hot Electron Production. Although the resonance

absorption process is basically linear, there are some nonlinear effects that

become important at high light intensity. Two dimensional plasma simulations

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152

DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

Figure 5.8. Modification of the density

gradient profile by the ponderomotive force

exerted by the incident light.

have shown that the resonantly driven wave field grows to sufficient intensity

that electrons can be accelerated through in one oscillation period. This

phenomenon is known as "wavebreaking." It leads to electron trapping by the

localized oscillating field and the production of very high energy (suprathermal)

electrons.27"30 A more detailed discussion of these suprathermal electrons and

their implications for target dynamics has been provided in Section 4.2.

Profile Modification. A second nonlinear effect of some importance is the

influence of the incident light on the plasma density gradient. The ponderomo-

tive force exerted by the beam (the light pressure) can dam up the plasma flow,

thereby steepening the density profile and reducing the scale height31"37 (see

Figure 5.8). This can have a significant effect on the range of angles over which

significant resonance absorption will occur. It furthermore tends to reduce the

energy deposited in the form of suprathermal electrons.

Other types of profile modification can become important. For example,

computer simulations have suggested that the incident beam can ripple the

critical surface. This also broadens the incident angle range over which

appreciable resonance absorption occurs. There is some experimental evidence

for this type of profile modification from the measurement of backscattered

A second anomalous (nonclassical) process that might lead to enhanced

absorption involves the presence of ion-acoustic turbulence driven by the heat

flux from the energy deposition region into the ablation front.37"42 The general

light.

38

5.1.4. ACOUSTIC TURBULENCE

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LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS

153

idea is that strong absorption in the underdense region of the plasma, due, for

example, to resonance absorption, will produce a large heat flux toward higher

density regions of the target. The heat flux can drive ion-acoustic turbulence

(via a two-stream mechanism due to the counterflowing cold and hot electron

components or the hot electrons and the ion stream due to plasma blowoff).

Since the ion-acoustic turbulence increases the effective electron-ion collision

frequency, vei, it would lead to enhanced absorption (analogous to collisional

absorption) of the incident light. This process can only occur for densities

between the critical density and roughly one-third the critical density, 0.3nff.<

ne<nec. However, in this region, light absorption could be enhanced consider-

ably, corresponding to an additional absorption of the incident beam of

roughly 20%. Although this absorption mechanism does produce suprathermal

electrons, they are far less energetic than those produced by resonance absorp-

tion.

5.1.5. PARAMETRIC PROCESSES IN ICF PLASMAS

Incident laser light can couple together the natural collective modes or waves

in an ICF target plasma in such a way as to drive these modes unstable.43"45

These instabilities will then grow until they saturate in a turbulent state. This

turbulent state of the plasma will then be characterized by enhanced values of

transport coefficients such as those characterizing absorption, thermal and

electrical conduction, and electron-ion energy transfer.

For example, the incident light can couple together electrostatic modes such

as electron plasma waves and ion acoustic waves in such a way as to lead to

enhanced absorption of the incident light in the vicinity of the critical surface.

The light can also couple into electromagnetic modes and excite instabilities

that lead to an enhanced reflectivity of the plasma.

These phenomena are examples of a parametric excitation process.46"58 More

precisely, parametric excitation involves the amplification of the oscillation of

a natural mode of a system due to a periodic modulation of a parameter that

characterizes the system. Perhaps the most common example of this is a child

on a swing. The natural frequency of the oscillating motion of the swing is

determined by the mass and the length of the rope (see Figure 5.9). But the

child can influence this motion by kicking its feet in such a way as to change

its center of mass—that is, the child can change the effective length of the

swing and thereby the frequency of the swing in a periodic fashion. If the child
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Figure 5.9. The child on a swing is an example of a single-mode

parametric process. d26/dr + il26-0; Q2 — (g/l)(l+ecosut).

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154

DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

kicks at a frequency just double that of the natural frequency of oscillation,

then it can amplify the motion of the swing. In this case, the parametric

excitation appears through a modulation of the frequency parameter.

In a plasma, there are a variety of different natural modes, such as electron

plasma waves and ion acoustic waves, that depend on parameters such as

density and temperature. Since these latter parameters can be modified—

indeed, modulated—by the electromagnetic field of the incident light wave, it

is not surprising to find that parametric excitation can play an important role

in the interaction of laser light with plasmas. A variety of different coupling

processes can occur involving both electrostatic and electromagnetic modes.

These are indicated schematically in Figure 5.10. All of these processes involve

three waves. There are also four-wave and higher order processes that can

occur, but these are usually of secondary importance in laser-plasma interac-

tions.

Electrostatic modes

Decay mode

Oscillating two stream

2<

Electromagnetic modes

Stimulated Raman scattering

Stimulated Brillouin scattering

Figure 5.10. There are a variety of three-wave parametric processes that can occur in

laser-plasma interactions.
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LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS

155

Figure 5.11. A three-mode parametric process.

The most general type of three-wave parametric interaction process can be

represented schematically as shown in Figure 5.11. Here we have employed the

usual terminology of parametric amplifiers in electrical engineering by refer-

ring to the driving force (e.g., the incident light wave) as the "pump," the lower

frequency natural mode (e.g., an ion acoustic wave) as the "idler," and the

higher frequency natural mode (e.g., an electron plasma wave) as the "signal."

Such parametric processes are characterized by several general properties:

1. A matching or "resonance" condition among frequency and wave numbers

must be obeyed for strong coupling:

k0~k, + k2

2. Since all natural modes of oscillation are damped, the driver or pump

amplitude must exceed a certain threshold intensity to drive the modes

unstable. These modes then grow in amplitude with a certain growth rate

as they absorb energy from the pump.

3. The final frequency of the amplified oscillation is determined by the pump

frequency rather than the natural frequency of the modes. This is referred

to as "frequency locking."

The general approach to analyzing parametric coupling processes in laser-

plasma interactions is to first recast the equations characterizing the modes of

the plasma into a form in which the parametric excitation is explicit. These

equations are then analyzed in the linear limit to determine the thresholds on

the pump amplitude for the onset of instabilities and the growth rates of these

instabilities. The more complex analysis of the nonlinear evolution of the

parametrically driven modes and their eventual saturation in a turbulent state

requires the use of plasma simulation codes.

Single Mode Analysis. To be more explicit, consider the case of a single

mode parametric process, that is, in which both the idler and the signal are the

same mode. The oscillator amplitude X(t) satisfies

^+2r^ + (S22+r2)A-(0 = 0

dr dt
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156

DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

where

f i = frequency of oscillation

T=damping coefficient

The parametric excitation is introduced as a modulation in the frequency:

where we will refer to fi0 as the natural frequency of the system in the absence

of the modulation, and w0 is the pump frequency.

If we use a variable substitution

This is a differential equation with periodic coefficients and corresponds to a

special case of Hill's equation known as the Mathieu equation. A theorem due

to Floquet indicates that the solution to this equation will have a periodic form

The usual approach to the analysis of such parametric processes involves

perturbation theory. If we assume (1) a weak pump such that e« 1 (so that the

equation can be linearized) and (2) small damping such that r/fi0« 1, then we

can simplify the analysis considerably. We begin by introducing a Fourier

transform:

fi2 = ag(l-2ecosw0/)

X(t) = e-r'Y(t)

we find

d2Y

— +^(l-2£cosw0/)y(/)=0

X(t) = j^fe-""X(U)dU

If we now transform the differential equation, we find

D(a)X(u)=eSll[X(

03 — u0 ) + X( u + w0)]

where D(u) is a dispersion relation for the natural oscillation of the system

z)(w)=-w2-2/rw+(fi^+r2)
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LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS 157

We can now study two cases suggested by Floquet's theorem:

Case 1: w0s2ft0, where w0 is the pump frequency.

If we look at frequencies w~fi0, then « —w0 Q0 and is resonant with the

natural oscillation frequency fi0. But w + w0~3fi0 and is off-resonance. Hence

we can neglect X(w + w0) as an off-resonance term and consider only the

coupling of X(w) and X(w-w0)

D(u)X(u)=eQlX(w-u0)

In a similar fashion, we find that X(u — w0) satisfies

D( w — u0)X(u — w0) = efl2, X(w)

where we have neglected X(u — u0)~X( — 3fi0) as off-resonance. Combining

these, we find the dispersion relation

£>(w)£>(w-w0) = e2a;5

If we now factor the dispersion relation for the natural mode:

£>(w)= -(w + ao+/T)(<o-ao+/T)

and use the fact that w~fi0 and r/fi0« 1, we can simplify this to

£>(<o)~-2fi0(w-fi0+/T)

D (u — w0) ~ 2 fl o (w — w0 + f i o + / T)

so that our dispersion relation becomes

(w-fi0 + /T)(w-fi0-A + /T) + e2-^ =0

where we have introduced the frequency mismatch

A = w0 — 2fi0

Let us now write

u = (fi0 + x) + iy

Here, a positive value of y would imply an instability in the mode. If we

separate real and imaginary parts such that

x(x-A)-(y+r)2 + e2Q20/4 = 0

(2x-A)(>) + r)=0
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158

DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

we can identify two different types of solutions:

1. y=— T which yields a damped oscillation with frequency ;c=^[A±[A2-

e2fio]1/2]. This solution makes sense only when A2>e2fio- But we recall

that A = w0-2S20. Hence we require (u0—2S20)2>£282„ that is, e suffi-

ciently small or frequency mismatch A sufficiently large.

2. x = A/2: Now we find Re{w} =x + fl0 = w0/2. Notice that this is a

"frequency-locked" situation, since it does not depend on the natural

frequency. We also find that the growth rate is y= — T±\[e2&l-A2]1

which is valid in the region e28o>A2 or e2Ql>(u0-2Sl0)2. From our

expression for y we see that one of the modes is less damped than the

natural oscillation, the other mode is more heavily damped. The less

damped mode becomes unstable when

, A2 + 4T2

e > ;—

fi2

Thus we have arrived at a threshold condition on the pump intensity for

instability. Notice that for zero frequency mismatch, A = 0, we have the

minimum threshold condition, Emin = 2r/fl0. The maximum growth rate

also occurs for A=0, >*majt= — r + e/2S20.

Case 2: w0sJ20. This analysis can be repeated to find two types of solution

once again, one damped and one "frequency locked" with an oscillation

frequency no longer dependent on the natural frequency but rather on the

frequency mismatch.

Coupled Mode Parametric Excitation. The situation of more direct interest

to three-wave processes is the coupling of two natural modes by a pump mode,

as described by

^+2T\^+(U2 + T?)X(t)=\Z(t)Y(t)

^+2T2^ + (ul + ri)Y(,) = \lZ(t)X(t)

where the pump is given by

Z(/) = 2Z0cos w0t

It is customary to assume, without loss of generality, that W|<w2-

The analysis of these coupled oscillators was first given by Nishikawa37 and

applied to analyze the interaction of electromagnetic waves with plasmas. The

perturbation analysis of this problem, while quite similar to that of our

previous single mode example, is cumbersome, and so we only discuss results

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LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS

159

here. For the frequency matching condition

U0~wl + w2

we can again Fourier transform the coupled mode equations to find the

dispersion relation

£>,(w)=A/iZ^

+.

£>2(w + w0) D2(u-u0)

where

Ds(u) = -u2-2iTta+(u2+Ts2), s=l,2

A perturbation analysis of this dispersion relation indicates two classes of

solution. Both cases can be driven unstable, but in one of these cases there is a

nonoscillatory solution. We study these solutions in more detail in the next

section when we consider the particular application of the coupled-mode

equations to electrostatic waves in a plasma.

Application to Electrostatic Waves in Plasmas.36,58 To apply these results to

the parametric excitation of electrostatic waves in a plasma by an incident laser

beam, we must first transform the relevant equations describing the laser-plasma

interaction into the form of the coupled parametric oscillators. It is typically

assumed that the laser beam is represented by a uniform electric field oscillat-

ing at a frequency comparable (but greater than) the plasma frequency. The

dynamics of the plasma are represented by the coupled hydrodynamics equa-

tions:

9ne

dt

dt

+ u„

+ u„

9".

9r

1 fa

T- — —n„E— v„n„u„

m„ 3r m„ " ° ° °

37-E=4w 2
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-e,t

These equations are then linearized about a spatially homogeneous part

(oscillating with the applied field) and averaged over the high frequency
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motion of the electrons. The resulting set of equations then takes the form
160

DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

which is identical to that of the coupled oscillator problem. The results of the

analysis of that problem can be applied directly.

More specifically, the dispersion relation for three-wave parametric coupling

of electrostatic waves becomes

(U2 + irlU-U2a)=±u2piu2pek2d2

(<o-u0) -aR + ive(a-u0)

(w + u0) — u\ + ive(u + uo)

where

eE

d0 =—- = electron "quiver" displacement

ykT

uR=u2e+ '^ e k2 = electron plasma wave frequency

Ik T \1/2

uia = | ^ ' | k = ion-acoustic wave frequency

In deriving this dispersion relation, the assumptions of a weak pump (kd0<£\)

and near critical density (u0~uR) have been used. If we confine our attention

to low frequency modes, w«w„ and solve the dispersion relation for a frequency

u=ur+iy, we can determine the threshold for instability by setting y—0.

There are two cases of interest:

1. Decay mode instability. Ur^ve, u0~wr+uR.

Then we find

v u v w„~iio2 to2 k2dn

t ia e R * pi pen M0

If we note that the light intensity is given by

/={cn,e0£02

we can calculate the threshold for the parametric decay mode as

where we have defined the laser light intensity at which the quiver energy

is equal to the thermal energy as

Ito = 2n,cne(kBTe)
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LASER LIGHT ABSORPTION IN PLASMAS

161

2. Oscillating two-stream instability. ur — 0, y = 0. Then

-u2 ~-w2 w2 A:2rfn2

ia a pi pe "0

2(<o2-<4)

(Notice that this implies that we must have u0<uR.) The minimum

threshold occurs at w2, — u2R = peu0 which yields

•is

-it)

The thresholds for both the decay mode and two-stream instability depend

on the damping of the waves. For the ion acoustic wave, one can write

—~f—V

"ia \ mi I

32

exp

2 T,

while for the electron plasma wave

, '/2.

pe pe "

(^max^o)

Here, kmiX is the wave number of the fastest growing ion acoustic mode, given

approximately by

1/2

For the case of equal electron and ion temperatures, Te=Ti, we find

»»,/w/a~0.6 so that the thresholds for the two stream and decay mode instabili-

ties are comparable, /2s~/DM- 1n tne situation more typical of the blowoff

plasma, r,>7] and p//co,B~(m//m,)l/2>l so that the threshold for the two

stream instability is significantly greater than that for the decay mode, Ils^>

'dm-

The dispersion relations can be used to calculate the corresponding growth

rates for these instabilities:

Decay mode

31/2

to
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2 P'

14 m,

1/3
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162

DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

\ Two stream

....

^^^^ Decay mode

Parametric

jelectron wave

Stimulated Raman

and Brillouin scattering

iiii

—I 1 >-

Figure 5.12. Density windows for parametric processes.

Two-stream

13

Notice that in both cases, the growth rates scale as Ymax~/I/3.

The implications of these results are important. Consider laser light incident

upon a density gradient as shown in Figure 5.12. The above analysis indicates

that parametrically driven electrostatic wave instabilities can only occur near

the critical surface. The minimum threshold for the excitation of these instabil-

ities occurs for Te>Tt and ne~nec. Then the damping is collisional in nature,

and we find that the decay mode instability has the lowest threshold which

scales as /

DM

,V2

Stimulated Scattering Processes.5*1 59 The incident light wave can also

parametrically excite electromagnetic waves in the plasma leading to a stimu-

lated scattering of light, that is, an enhanced reflection. For example, stimu-

lated Brillouin scattering involves the parametric coupling of the incident light

with an ion-acoustic wave and a backscattered electromagnetic wave. The

stimulated Raman scattering process involves coupling of the incident light

wave with an electron plasma wave and a backscattered electromagnetic wave.

Frequency-matching conditions imply that these processes can occur in the

underdense region if there is a sufficiently large scale height in the blowoff

plasma.

Such stimulated scattering processes are potentially quite serious since they
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could scatter the incident laser light back off of the target plasma before it can

penetrate into the critical surface where the most effective absorption (reso-

nance or parametric) can occur. Brillouin scattering is the most serious, since

the frequency matching condition Wo~wscat + uia all°ws it to occur over a large
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region of the underdense plasma. Plasma simulations and experiments have

RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON BEAM ENERGY DEPOSITION 163

indicated that nearly all of the energy of the incident light can be transferred to

the scattered wave if conditions are right.

Several remedies have been proposed to circumvent this process. For exam-

ple, one can avoid building up a large scale height plasma corona surrounding

the target. An alternative approach is to modulate the frequency of the

incident light (e.g., generating a random frequency by passing the light through

a filter before focusing it on the target) in such a way as to increase the

effective threshold intensity for the stimulated Brillouin process.60"62

5.2. RELATIVISTIC ELECTRON BEAM ENERGY DEPOSITION

When electron beam drivers are used in inertial confinement fusion, the

incident electron beam deposits its energy in the electron component of the

ablation material of the target. These hot electrons then equilibrate with

the target material ions. Several energy absorption mechanisms are of interest:

(i) collisional absorption, (ii) modifications due to beam magnetic fields, and

(iii) anomalous energy deposition due to collective (beam-plasma) effects.

5.2.1. CLASSICAL (COLLISIONAL) ABSORPTION

At low target temperatures and low beam current, electron energy loss is

primarily through binary collisions with target material electrons. As the

target material becomes a plasma, it is important to account for changes due to

electron shielding at close range and the excitation of plasmas waves

(Cerenkov radiation).

More precisely, the possible interactions of an electron beam of energy E~ 1

MeV incident upon a target is tabulated for both low and high Z target

materials in Table 5.3. Here we have ranked the various energy deposition

mechanisms in order of importance and given crude estimates of their relative

contribution to the overall beam energy deposition.

We can write the formula characterizing collisional energy deposition as63-64

dE = dE

dx dx

dE

dx

dE

scattering T———

(electrons)

where

dE
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dx

dE

dx

2m0c
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ionization

scattering

/8

â– NZ

brcmsstrahlung

, mnc

dE

dx

brcmsstrahlung

= 4wr02(£ + m0c2)4Z:

In 2

E+m0c2 \ 1

mnc*
164 DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

Table 5.3. Energy Deposition Mechanisms for Relativistic Electron Beams

Relative contribution (%)

Low-Z Targets High- Z Targets

Mechanism

Ionization

~90

<20

Elastic backscatter by nucleus

<10

>50

Inelastic backscatter by atomic electrons

<10

<10

Bremsstrahlung

~0

8%

Here, m0c2=0.511 MeV, fi=v/c, and 4wr02=10 24 cm2. In particular, for

relativistic electrons slowing down in a 1-keV plasma, this yields roughly

dF 7

— ~2.5p— MeV/cm

ax A

For solid density, dE/dx~ 1 MeV cm2/g. Hence the range of a 1-MeV electron

in solid density D-T is several centimeters. Since typical target designs are on

the order of millimeters in diameter, it is apparent that classical absorption

mechanisms are insufficient to absorb the incident driver beams.

5.2.2. MAGNETIC FIELD EFFECTS AND ANOMALOUS

ABSORPTION

An intense relativistic electron beam produces a magnetic field. If this field can

penetrate the target, it can influence energy deposition.65,66 For example, the

electron Larmor radius in a megagauss field ranges from 0.01 to 0.1 mm.

Electrons can be turned around and trapped in a layer of the order of the

Larmor radius. But for this effect to occur, the magnetic field of the incident

beam must penetrate the target. We can estimate the distance the magnetic

field can diffuse into the target during a time t as

6~106(TlnA)1/27-3/4

For example, if t~10-10 s, then the penetration distance is only 10"4 cm, far
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too short to lead to appreciable absorption.

If anomalous resistivity is present (due to plasma turbulence), the penetra-

tion distance becomes larger. There is some thought that a two-stream instabil-

ity induced by the return current in the target could have this effect. This
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process has been observed experimentally, but it does not appear to be a strong

effect. In fact, the coupling of the incident electron beam appears to be only

several times that of the classical coupling mechanism.

As with laser-plasma interactions, there is some possibility that the incident

electron beam will excite plasma waves that will interact with the beam

electrons and lead to more efficient energy absorption in the outer layers of the

target. Unfortunately such beam plasma interactions have not yet been demon-

strated to lead to a beam absorption efficiency sufficient for ICF target design.
RELATTVISTIC ELECTRON BEAM ENERGY DEPOSITION 165

5.2.3. HIGH Z ABSORPTION TARGETS

One remedy to the absorption problem is to use a layer of high Z material such

as gold to shorten the energy deposition range. However, this leads to a new

problem, since the bremsstrahlung generated by a relativistic electron beam

incident upon a high Z target is appreciable. In Table 5.4 we have compared

the fraction of the incident beam energy converted into bremsstrahlung for low

and high Z targets. The importance of this radiation production is apparent

when the mean free paths of these bremsstrahlung photons are recognized to

be of the order of centimeters or longer (see Table 5.5). The bremsstrahlung

produced during beam absorption in the high Z shell can penetrate into the

target, preheating the inner shell and the fuel.

More detailed calculations indicate that roughly 8% of the incident energy in

a beam of 1-MeV electrons would be converted into bremsstrahlung radiation.

For 10-MeV electrons, this percentage increases to 33%. Several modifications

in target design have been proposed to mitigate bremsstrahlung preheat.

Layers of differing Z (e.g., carbon, gold, etc.) might be used. Target designs

have also been proposed that facilitate the diffusion of the incident beam

magnetic field in an attempt to shorten the electron range. There have also

been target designs that produce internally generated magnetic fields to

shorten electron range.

In summary, however, there appear to be serious problems in achieving the

necessary beam energy deposition characteristics to facilitate efficient implo-

sion of ICF targets using relativistic electron beams. The long electron energy

deposition range suggests that massive target designs may be necessary to

absorb the incident beam energy. Bremsstrahlung preheating appears to be a

very significant problem. These features, coupled with the difficulties in

delivering and focusing intense relativistic electron beams over some distance

onto an ICF target have raised serious doubts as to the suitability of this type

of ICF driver.

Table 5.4. Fraction of the Incident Relativistic Electron Beam Energy

Converted into Bremsstrahlung Radiation

Target Z

Beam Energy

3 29 79

I MeV
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10 MeV

0.001

0.01

0.002 0.027 0.082

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0.02 0.16 0.33

Table 5.5.

Bremsstrahlung Mean Free Paths in Various Materials

Bremsstrahlung Energy (cm)

Material

0.1 MeV 1 MeV

Al

Pb

D-T

2.2 6

0.17 1.25

35 96
166

DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

5.3. ION BEAM ENERGY DEPOSITION

Focused ion beams present an attractive alternative to laser and relativistic

electron beam drivers. Ion beams have the distinct advantage that they appear

to produce no preheating radiation such as suprathermal electrons or hard

X rays. Ion energy deposition is "classical," that is, based on well-known

collision processes.67 The plasma effects (turbulence, suprathermal electron

generation, thermal conduction inhibition) that have plagued the laser driven

approach to inertial confinement fusion do not arise in ion beam driven

targets. This feature allows target designers to return to those thrilling days of

yesteryear68 when their only concerns were classical coupling and thermal

transport mechanisms.

Ion beams have the added advantage that there is no critical density

associated with the beam propagation or energy deposition. Ions can penetrate

deeper into the target, thereby coupling their energy into high density target

material and driving a more efficient implosion process. Since ion beams

cannot be reflected from the target, the absorption efficiency is 100%. These

two effects combine to allow ion beam drivers to achieve overall implosion

efficiences as high as 15 to 20% compared to the 5 to 10% efficiencies

characterizing laser driven implosions.

Figure 5.13. A comparison of the energy deposition characteristics of laser, electron,

and ion beams.

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ION BEAM ENERGY DEPOSITION

dt

clx

Single particle

Parallel beam

Distance of penetration

Figure 5.14. The energy loss profile, dE/dx versus x, for ions.

Yet another advantage for ion beam drivers arises from the spatial depen-

dence of the driver beam energy deposition in the target. The energy deposi-

tion characteristics of ion, laser, and electron beams are compared in Figure

5.13. Ion beam energy deposition is characterized by a Bragg peaking phenom-

ena that concentrates the energy deposition near the end of the ion range (see

Figure 5.14). This effect allows the outer pellet material to serve as a tamper

for the region where the ion energy is deposited. (See Chapter 9 for an example

of such a target design.) By way of contrast, in laser driven implosions the

outer material is below critical densities (e.g., 1021 cm 3) and is blown off into

a vacuum, hence serving no tamping function at all. In the case of relativistic

electron beams, the stopping power is nearly constant over the electron range.

The more favorable energy deposition characteristics of ion beams give them

a decided advantage over the more established approaches to inertial confine-

ment fusion using laser or relativistic electron beam drivers. In this section we

consider the range requirements for ion beams imposed by target implosion

demands. We then examine theoretical models of ion energy deposition in

targets and various ion range/energy characteristics appropriate for ICF

applications.

To effectively drive an ICF target implosion, the specific energy (J/g) achieved

by ion beam deposition in the target material must be sufficient to generate an

ablation velocity of 107 cm/s. We recall then from Section 3.6 that this

ablation will produce (through the rocket effect) an implosion velocity of

2X 107 cm/s, the minimum required for thermonuclear ignition. The specific

kinetic energy corresponding to target material velocity of 107 cm/s is 5X 106

J/g. When the thermal energy of the ablator is added to this, the total specific

energy is roughly 2X107 J/g. To infer an ion range R, let us assume a

spherical target geometry so that

5.3.1. REQUIREMENTS ON THE ION RANGE

EE E

= 2X107
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Vg

m 4irr2brp 4<nr2R
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where we have identified pAr= R as the range of the ions. For a typical target,

r~0.3 cm and E~ 1 to 5X 106 J, we require rt~40 to 200 mg/cm2.

Figure 5.15 presents a plot of the range of different ions in cold material as a

function of the ion energy. Using our range limits as a guide, we can quickly

identify the acceptable energies of each ion species. For example, the ions

listed in Table 5.6 correspond to a range of 100 mg/cm2. From the perspective

of a target designer, each of these ion species has the same range and is

therefore equivalent. Of course this is not precisely true since the detailed

deposition profile of the high Z ions will be different from that of low Z ions,

and the implosion could be sensitive to this. However, to a first approximation,

ion range is the most important factor in target design.

It should also be noted that while various ion species of differing energies

but identical ranges may be regarded as essentially equivalent from the

viewpoint of target design, they may present a considerable difference from

that of driver design. High energy ions can be used to achieve a given driver

beam intenstiy with a much lower current than low energy ions. Beam current

is a significant factor in achieving the required beam focus on the target, as we

see in Chapter 8.

Table 5.6. Ions with a Range of 100 mg/cm2

Ion Energy (MeV)

H~ 4l

He 19

Ne 240

Kr 1500

U 4400
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ION BEAM ENERGY DEPOSITION

169

5.3.2. CLASSICAL ION STOPPING IN COLD MATTER

Interest in ion stopping in solid or gaseous materials dates back to the early

1900s.69 There has been considerable theoretical and experimental work on this

subject.70 The bulk of this work has dealt with the absorption of low intensity

ion beams in cold matter. In this case, "low intensity" means that the ions do

not interact with one another, and that they do not dynamically alter the

properties of the matter, for example, through heating. Much of this informa-

tion can be applied to the stopping of ions in the dense ablator material of ICF

targets. Some modifications must be made to account for the high temperature

of this material (~ 100 eV) and the corresponding free electron population.

The basic slowing down mechanisms involve excitation and ionization of

bound atomic electrons through Coulomb interactions with the ion. This

process is usually described by the Bethe equation71 for ion stopping

(-) =

\ dx I Bcthe

4vNQ(Zc(t)2pe*Z2

mec2p2A2

2mec2p2y2

In

where

Z, = atomic number of projectile ion

Zc{l—effective charge of the projectile ion

N0—Avogadro's number

p = density of stopping material

A 2 — atomic weight of stopping material

Z2 = atomic number of stopping material

S = polarization effect correction term

/ = average ionization potential

2 -=r =sum of the effects of shell correction terms

, Z2

Y=0-*2)

1/2

0=v/c

The range of ions scales essentially as

iK
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Hence even for high energy ions (e.g., 103 MeV), the range is still well under

0.1 mm.
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170 DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

The average ionization potential is a very important parameter in the Bethe

formula. It is formally defined by

Zln/=2/>£n

where £a are the possible electronic states and /a are the corresponding dipole

oscillator strengths for the stopping material. In practice, this formal definition

is not very useful and the average ionization is measured experimentally.72

The Bethe formula is valid as long as the average ionization / is less than

2mec2B2y2. However, it diverges for higher ionizations unless atomic shell

corrections and polarization effects are included. The shell correction terms

can be included in the form of a five parameter least square fit to the available

data for proton stopping73

2 -y- =a0+al In £+a2(ln £)2 + a3(ln £)3+a4(ln £)4

The inclusion of the shell corrections improves the Bethe model at low ion

energy, but it remains invalid for very low ion energies. Here it is customary to

use the LSS model of Linhard.74 In this model a Thomas-Fermi description of

the bound electrons is used, and the stopping power due to excitation and

ionization is added to a contribution from nuclear elastic scattering of the

projectile ion. The electronic contribution is given by

dE

dx

where

^LSSC

LSS

CLSS = K(EL/\.602X\0"9y/2/(RLX\0*)(keV,/2/pm)

EL=(\+A)ZiZ2e2/Aa

a = 0.468c( Z2/3 + Z2^) 1/2 X 10"8 (cm)

R, = (\+A)2/4irANa2

A=A2/AX

N = target atom number density

_ 0.0793 Z2/3Z2/3(l+,4)3/2

At = atomic weight of projectile ion

The range of validity of this formula is restricted by Z,l/3> 137 /?.

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ION BEAM ENERGY DEPOSITION

171

The elastic nuclear scattering contribution can be expressed as 75, 76

= C„e1/2exp[ - 45.2( C„,e)° 277] (MeV/g cm2)

dE

dR

where R = px.

B=E/A}

The stopping power of energetic ions in cold material can be estimated by

dE\

dE

dx

= rrun

bound

dE

. dx

Bethe

dx

LSS

♦f

A final problem with the Bethe model is the value of Zeff, the effective

charge of the fast ion. The stopping of ions other than protons might be

expected to scale as Z2. However their measured values deviate from this

dependence. This discrepancy is included in the theory by defining a value for

Zeff that matches the experimental results.76"79 A suitable expression for this is

given by Brown and Moak as78

= 1 - 1.034exp( - 137.04 0/Z° 69)

This completes our discussion of the stopping of ions via classical mecha-

nisms in cold matter.80 We now turn our attention to those modifications that

occur in the high temperature plasmas characterizing ICF targets.

5.3.3. HIGH TEMPERATURE (PLASMA) EFFECTS ON ION

STOPPING

The Bethe and LSS models (and their modifications) adequately describe the

stopping of ions in cold matter.80 But in the case of ICF targets enough energy

is deposited to heat the ablator material to several hundreds of electron volts.

At these temperatures there is appreciable ionization. For example, gold at

r=50 eV and 10% of solid density will have Zeff~10.3. The free electrons
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produced by this ionization of target material will contribute significantly to

the stopping power. Ionization also changes the properties of the remaining

bound electrons and screens these from the projectile ion.

The effect of ionization on the average ionization potential of the atom can
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be roughly treated by replacing the ionization potential of the ionized atom

172 DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

with an expression such as the following for doubly charged oxygen:81

Z,

/= (oxygen+2) = oxygen / (neutral carbon)

carbon

Simple binary collision theory for impact parameters within a Debye length

coupled to plasma wave excitation (collective phenomena) outside of a Debye

length can be used as the basis for the stopping power of free plasma electrons

and ions. The energy loss relation for free electrons is given by82

dE\ _ up(Zrff) e

dx

21-7 \2„2

GU)mAfrec

free C2p2

where

t 1/2

G(£) = erf(£,/2)-2^ e"<

7T

AirpZ2e2N0

u2

A free-

meA2

0.7640c

2',

/iM2 , 2/iu j, r m\+m2

rZ, h m,m2

max^-—, — \, m= "

u — average relative speed between the ion and target electron

A similar expression can be written for the plasma ion component

dE

dx

Z„ff Z?e

p2c2A

where

A2E
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y,"A-kf,

A,=/>max/Aiun

= Ji^mEc2 = A\A2

1^2 e" A\+A2

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ION BEAM ENERGY DEPOSITION

173

Thus the stopping of ions in the hot, dense ablator of ICF targets is

significantly more complex than the stopping in cold matter. The latter has the

great advantage that much experimental data is available to normalize the

theoretical models. There is essentially no data to verify the high temperature

effects.

5.3.4. ION STOPPING: SOME TYPICAL RESULTS

A monoenergetic beam of carbon ions stopping in a solid density cold gold

target is a good test of the classical theory. Figure 5.16 shows the stopping as

predicted by the Bethe theory with shell corrections and the LSS model. We

see that the Bethe theory diverges at low ion energy, but this is precisely where

the LSS theory picks up. A combination of the two closely approximates the

tabulated stopping powers of Northcliffe and Schilling.83

The important effects of the free electrons in a partially ionized plasma can

be seen in Figure 5.17 where the individual components of the stopping power

are plotted for gold at 7=200 eV and 10% solid density. The characteristics of

different ions are shown in Figures 5.18 and 5.19 where the deposition profiles

for protons, carbon, and xenon are given for cold and high temperature gold.

The range shortening that is evident in these figures is more explicitly dis-

played in the three-dimensional plot of Figure 5.20. The range of protons in

gold at a temperature of 100 eV is only about one-half that of the cold range.

At higher temperatures, as the free electron component becomes more domi-

nant, the Bragg peak disappears.

These details are of considerable importance to the target designer since they

determine the thickness of the ablator and the intensity of the beam necessary

to achieve an energy deposition of 2X 107 J/g. The most concentrated energy

deposition occurs at 50 to 100 eV in the sharp Bragg peak. However, these

temperatures only correspond to about 5 to 10 X 106 J/g of specific internal

energy. The 2X 107 J/g needed for the target implosion comes at temperatures

of about 200 eV where the Bragg peak has smoothed out.

—\ i i i

Bethe

LSS

Total

Tabulated

Energy (MeV)
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Figure 5.16. Energy deposition from a carbon ion beam stopping in solid density cold

gold targets. (Courtesy of Sandia Laboratory.)

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174

DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

Energy (MeV)

Figure 5.17. Energy deposition for carbon ions incident on a gold target plasma at a

temperature of 200 eV. (Courtesy of Sandia Laboratory.)

5.3.5. THE VALIDITY OF THE LOW INTENSITY THEORY

FOR ICF APPLICATIONS

The bound electron theory, the Bethe and LSS models, and the plasma

stopping theory are all applicable to single test particle situations (i.e., a dilute

beam of ions). But can such theories be used for very high intensity beams in

the 100-TW range?

Consider, for example, the case of a 2-MeV proton beam of intensity 100

TW/cm2 incident upon a target with an electron density of 10 22 to 1024 cm-3,

typical of solid materials. The interparticle spacing in the ion beam is 10-6 cm,

while the Coulomb shielding distance in the target is 10-8 cm. Hence, the 100

shielding lengths between the ions in the beam should imply that they interact

as independent particles and that collective phenomena within the beam itself

Depth (mg/cm2)

Figure 5.18. Proton, carbon, and xenon ion deposition profiles in cold, normal density

gold. (Courtesy of Sandia Laboratory.)

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ION BEAM ENERGY DEPOSITION

175

Depth (mg/cm2)

Figure 5.19. Proton, carbon, and xenon ion deposition profiles in 200-eV, 0.01 solid

density gold. (Courtesy of Sandia Laboratory.)

is unlikely once it has penetrated the material. At higher ion energies, such as

10-GeV uranium, the number of beam ions is proportionately lower for the

same intensity. In this case the interparticle spacing is 17 times as large as for

2-MeV protons, and there are 1700 shielding lengths between the ions.

Therefore these beams of ions are not really very "intense" once they have

penetrated the ablator material, due to shielding effects.

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176

DRIVER ENERGY DEPOSITION

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Phys. 6. 83 (1975) and "Parametric Instabilities in an Inhomogeneous Unmagnetized Plasma."

Adv. Plasma Phys. 6, 121 (1975).

59. D. W. Forslund, J. M. Kindel, and E. L. Lindman, "Theory of Stimulated Scattering

Processes in Laser-Irradiated Plasmas," Phys. Fluids 18, 1002 (1975).

60. J. J. Thomson, W. L. Kruer. and S. E. Bodner, "Parametric Instability Thresholds and Their

Control." Phys. Fluids 17. 849 (1974).

61. E. J. Valeo and C. R. Obcrman, "Model of Parametric Excitation by an Imperfect Pump."

Phys. Rev. Lett. 30, (1973).

62. J. J. Thomson and J. I. Karush, "Effects of Finite-Bandwidth Driver on the Parametric

Instability," Phys. Fluids 17, 1608 (1974).

63. J. D. Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd ed. (New York, Wiley, 1975), Chap. 13.

64. R. D. Evans, The Atomic Nucleus, (New York, McGraw Hill, 1969), Chap. 21.

65. D. Mosher and I. Bernstein, "Magnetic-Ficld-Induced Enhancement of Relativistic-Electron

Beam Energy Deposition." Phys. Rev. Lett. 38. 1483 (1977).

66. S. L. Bogolyubsky. B. P. Gerasimov, V. I. Liksonov. Yu. P. Topov. L. I. Pudakov, A. A

Samarskii. V. P. Smirnov, and L. I. Urutskoev, Pis,ma Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 24. 202 (1976).

67. T. A. Mehlhorn, "A Finite Material Temperature Model for Ion Energy Deposition in

Ion-Driven ICF Targets," Sandia National Laboratory Report SAND 80-0038 (May, 1980)

68. J. Nuckolls, L. Wood. A. Thiesscn. and G. Zimmerman. "Laser Compression of Matter to

Super-High Densities: Thermonuclear (CTR) Applications." Nature 239, 139 (1972).

69. N. Bohr, "On the Theory of the Decrease of Velocity of Moving Electrified Particles on

Passing Through Matter," Philos. Mag. 25, 10 (1913).

70. S. P. Ahlen, "Theoretical and Experimental Aspects of the Energy Loss of Relativistic
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Heavily Ionized Particles," Rev. Mod. Phys. 52, 121 (1980).

71. H. Bcthe. "On the Theory of the Passage of Fast Particle Beams Through Matter," Ann. Phys.

5.325 (1930).

72. E. Williams, "Application of Ordinary Space-Time Concepts in Collision Problems and the
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Relation of Classical Theory to Born-s Approximation," Rev. Mod. Phys. 17, 217 (1945).

73. H. H. Andersen and J. F. Aiegler, Hydrogen—Stopping Powers and Ranges in All Elements

(New York. Pergamon. 1977).

74. J. Linhard. M. Scharff, and H. E. Shiott, Kgl. Danskc Videnskab. Selskab, Mat. Fys. Medd.

33, (14) (1963).

75. P. C. Steward and R W Wallace, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-19128

(1970).

76. J. Linhard and M Scharff, "Energy Dissipation by Ions in the Kev Range." Phys. Rev. 124,

128 (1964).

77. H. D. Bctz. "Charge States and Charge-Changing Cross Sections of Fast Heavy Ions

Penetrating Through Gaseous and Solid Media," Rev. Mod. Phys. 44, 465 (1972).
REFERENCES

179

78. M. D. Brown and C. D. Moak, Phys. Rev. B6, 90 (1972).

79. P. Steward, "Stopping Power and Range for Any Nucleus in the Specific Energy Interval

0.01 —500 MeV/amu in Any Nongaseous Material," Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report

UCRL-I8127(1968).

80. J. F. Ziegler, Stopping Cross Sections for Energetic Ions in All Elements, Vol. 15 (New York,

Pergamon, 1972).

81. D. Mosher, in ERDA Summer Study of Heavy Ions for Inertial Fusion, Lawrence Berkeley

Laboratory Report LBL-5543 (1976), p. 39.

82. J. D. Jackson, Classical Eelctrodynamics, 3rd ed. (New York, Wiley, 1975), p. 643.

83. L. Northcliffe and R. Schilling. Nucl. Data Tables A7, 233 (1970).
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SIX

Computer Simulation

The dynamics of an inertial confinement fusion target involve a variety of

complex hydrodynamic and transport processes as well as driver beam-target

interaction and fusion reaction kinetics. Although any single process can

usually be described by simple models when decoupled from other processes,

the complete description of pellet implosion and burn must be simulated using

large computer codes that contain all of the relevant physics.1"" The successful

implosion of ICF targets requires an accurate description of driver energy

deposition in the outer layers of the target, the transport of this energy into the

ablation surface via thermal conduction or particle transport, and finally the

conversion of this thermal energy into hydrodynamic motion that leads to

isentropic compression of the fuel to high density. As the imploding shock

waves converge to the pellet center with a velocity of the order of 3 X 107 cm/s,

they shock heat the central region of the compressed pellet to 4 to 10 keV and

thermonuclear burning occurs. This burning self-heats the central fuel region

to over 20 keV, and a supersonic burn wave propagates outward from the

pellet center heating the surrounding cold fuel by fusion reaction product

energy deposition and bringing it to ignition conditions.

The achievement of high target fusion energy gain depends sensitively on

many details of the implosion and energy transport process. We can conve-

niently picture the imploding pellet as consisting of three regions as shown in

Figure 6.1. Driver beam energy deposition occurs in the outermost region, and

the physics of the energy absorption process and energy transport dominate

the dynamics of this region.

To make this discussion more explicit, consider the particular case of laser

fusion. For laser drivers, the energy deposition region is bordered by the outer

edge of the pellet plasma or corona and the critical density surface where the

electron plasma frequency is equal to the laser light frequency (1021 cm-3 for

1.06-/im and 1019 cm-3 for 10.6-/im light, respectively). In this region laser

light is absorbed or reflected from the plasma, with most of the interaction

180
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COMPUTER SIMULATION

181

Figure 6.1. Plasma density and electron and ion temperature profiles during the

implosion of a spherical target.

occurring near the critical density surface. Laser light absorption is usually

modeled as a combination of classical (inverse bremsstrahlung) and resonance

absorption. Here we recall that resonant absorption occurs because of a

resonant coupling between the laser light electric field and electron plasma

waves.12- 13 This process requires the oblique incidence of laser light on the

electron density gradient in the corona region near the critical density surface.

Since this electron density gradient also refracts laser light, there will be an

optimum jingle at which resonant absorption is maximized.14- 15 In actual

practice this resonant absorption process cannot be self-consistently de-

termined within a plasma hydrodynamics calculation since the time and spatial

scales are far too small. Instead the results of numerical plasma particle

simulations together with experimental results are used to provide a recipe for

determining the amount of energy absorbed through resonant absorption.16

The resonant absorption process deposits much of the incident light energy

in fast electrons.17"19 These so-called suprathermal electrons may be 10 to 100

times hotter than the thermal plasma background (10 to 100 keV) and

consequently possess mean free paths that are very long in comparison with

the gradients in the thermal plasma. The transport of these suprathermal

electrons in the corona region is presumed to give rise to fast ion emission

observed in laser-plasma experiments.20- 21 Those hot electrons streaming

inward from the critical density surface can stream ahead of the ablation front

and preheat the compressed pellet core.22 This results in a degradation of the

implosion process. Therefore it is very important to treat the origin and

transport of these suprathermal electrons properly in any simulation of the

pellet implosion process.

In addition to this nonhydrodynamic coupling of laser light energy into the

plasma electrons, there is also a contribution to the hydrodyoamic pressure due

to the presence of laser radiation near the critical density. This so-called
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182

COMPUTER SIMULATION

ponderomotive force,23, 24 due to the intense electromagnetic field of the

incident light, can significantly alter the electron density gradient profile near

the critical density surface and, thus, can affect both classical and resonant

absorption processes. This makes the task of properly modeling the coupling of

laser light into the plasma even more difficult. To date no laser fusion

hydrodynamics code can consistently predict the amount of laser energy

deposited in the plasma. Typically the amount of energy deposited is de-

termined by a prescription that comes from the particular experiment being

modeled, and the remainder of the simulation is performed under this assump-

tion.

The second region of interest is bordered by the energy deposition region

(e.g., the critical density surface for laser fusion) on the outside and the

ablation front on the inside. This region has a fluid velocity in the outward

direction. However, the dominant energy flow is inward via the thermal

electron conduction process, suprathermal electron streaming, and radiative

transfer. Thus the transport of energy dominates the dynamics of this region,

underscoring the fact that inertial confinement fusion calculations should not

be considered as hydrodynamic calculations in the classical sense that envision

mass flow as the dominant process. In this middle region energy flow is an

equally important process, and the transport of nonthermal energy in the form

of suprathermal electrons and radiation is of considerable importance. Later

we will find that the use of standard procedures for computing hydrodynamic

transport coefficients leads to erroneous results unless ad hoc "fix-ups" are

provided in the equations to ensure plausible results.

The sensitivity of the implosion process to uncertainties in the electron

thermal conduction process is displayed in Figure 6.2, where thermal conduc-

tivity is scaled from its nominal value, while all other parameters, including the

4000

2 3000

(/)

in

UJ

ct

2
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S 2000

z>

5
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5 1000

i i i rmT] 1—i i i i iiif 1—i n i iii

l I I I I llll I I I I I I I 11II

2 3 4 5 6789 2

1 x 10 •' 1 x 10''

3 4 5 6789

2 3 4 5 6 789

1 X 10"'

K/ * K '

Figure 6.2. Results of hydrodynamic simulations showing the dependence of the

maximum compression of the pellet core on the ratio of electron thermal conductivity

to its nominal value.

COMPUTER SIMULATION

183

laser input pulse shape, are held fixed. These results are for a solid D-T

sphere and a 60-kJ laser pulse with an optimum power law shape. The

maximum compression of the pellet core varies by over an order of magnitude

for changes in Ke within the uncertainty of its correct value.

Important reductions of Ke (so-called thermal flux inhibition) can result from

plasma instabilities26 and locally intense self-generated magnetic fields.27 Ion-

acoustic instabilities can result from the interaction between the inwardly

directed thermal conduction electrons, the counter-streaming cold electron

return current that is induced to maintain charge neutrality, and the back-

ground ion motion in the outward direction. These instabilities can lead to an

increase in the effective electron-ion collision frequency and thereby reduce

thermal conduction. Again, these effective transport coefficients cannot be

calculated in a self-consistent fashion within a hydrodynamics description, but

rather they are usually approximated by using a prescription such as ratios of

electron and ion temperatures and the magnitude of the electron heat flux.28

Self-generated magnetic fields can result from thermoelectric currents that are

produced in an inhomogeneous plasma.29 One typical situation is nonparallel

density and temperature gradients, VnX VT, that result from nonuniform

laser illumination and / or the development of two-dimensional flow

during the implosion process. Two-dimensional flow can result from a non-

symmetric target configuration such as the ball-on-disk target or from the

development of fluid instabilities during a symmetric implosion. In either case

the thermal transport coefficient characterizing conduction transverse to the

magnetic field lines is reduced by the factor (1+fi2t2)-1, where f i is the

electron-cyclotron frequency, and t is the electron-ion collision frequency. A

two-dimensional hydrodynamic description is necessary to predict this im-

portant effect, even for a presumably symmetric implosion. This is of great

significance because two-dimensional calculations are extremely expensive, and

accurate treatment of the transport processes, which are important in addition

to the hydrodynamics, can become prohibitively expensive in two dimensions.

The third region of interest is that portion of the target within the ablation

surface. In this dense, cold plasma, hydrodynamics is presumably an accurate

model. However, care must be taken to properly evaluate the associated

plasma equations of state. At high compressions, cold electrons behave as a

Fermi degenerate gas, and their properties must be treated accordingly. The
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other hydrodynamic effect of interest is fluid instability. Conditions at the

ablation front can correspond to Rayleigh-Taylor instability conditions, and

growth rates can be fast enough to destroy the symmetric compression. Again,

an accurate description of this phenomenon necessitates the use of multidimen-

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sional models. Perturbation techniques30 as well as full two-dimensional calcu-

lations31 are used to study this problem.

For all three of these regions, radiation emission, transport, and absorption

also must be considered.32 High energy photons created in the laser absorption

region can stream inward to preheat the pellet core just as the suprathermal

electrons. More importantly, in the current experiments, radiation is one of

the principal diagnostic tools. The radiation spectrum is used to determine

184

COMPUTER SIMULATION

Table 6.1. Target Physics

Energy Deposition Region

Energy Transport Region

Pellet Core Region

Hydrodynamics

Driver energy deposition

Laser-plasma interaction

Resonant absorption

Stimulated scattering

Density profile modification

Suprathermal electron generation

Suprathermal electron transport

Fast ion generation

Plasma sheath formation

Hydrodynamics

Electron thermal conduction

Suprathermal electron

transport

Photon transport

Plasma instabilities

Magnetic fields

Equation of state

Hydrodynamics

Hydrodynamic instabilities

Electron and ion preheat

of cold fuel

Isentropic compression

Equation of state near

Fermi degeneracy

Shock convergence and timing

Shock heating of central

hot spot

Thermonuclear reaction rates

Fusion reaction product

transport
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Thermonuclear burn wave

propagation

Target disassembly

electron temperature, suprathermal electron temperature, and the number of

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suprathermal electrons.33 The spatial distribution of X rays provides informa-

tion regarding the compression of glass microballoon targets. X-ray line

emission can be used to diagnose the presence of suprathermal electron preheat

of compressed D-T fuel.

In addition to these three spatial regions, there is a final stage of the inertial

confinement fusion process that involves the burning of the compressed fuel

core. Ignition of the central hot spot causes the burn process to proceed more

rapidly that the implosion process. This process again involves the transport of

nonthermal particles, in this case, the charged particle fusion reaction products

as well as neutral particles such as fast neutrons.1,34 These particles slow down

in the dense pellet core, giving up their energy to bootstrap heat the core to

optimum burn temperatures. In current laser fusion experiments, a negligible

amount of charged particle energy is redeposited in the D-T fuel. Many of the

particles escape, and these can be used as a diagnostic to determine the

temperature of the burning fuel. In this case, charged particle transport must

be adequately modeled to predict the amount of energy loss and spectrum

broadening that results from interactions with the surrounding tamping zones,

so that experimental results can be translated into D-T ion temperatures.

Suitable models of neutron transport in the dense pellet core must also be

provided.

The essence of the preceding discussion is summarized in Table 6.1 where

the fusion target is divided into spatial regions, and the most significant

physics in each region is listed. From this table we can clearly see that classical

plasma hydrodynamics by itself is inadequate to model these plasmas. Indeed,

even with the addition of particle transport models and magnetic field effects,
HYDRODYNAMIC CODES

185

the present computer code models of inertial confinement fusion targets still

omit a number of important physical processes.

6.1. HYDRODYNAMICS CODES

Essentially all inertial confinement plasma hydrodynamics codes use a two-

temperature, one-fluid model of the plasma. In this model, electrons and ions

are assumed to flow as one fluid, implying no charge separation (at least on the

length scale of interest). However, each species maintains its own characteristic

temperature due to weak energy coupling between the two populations. Radia-

tion can be included as either a third temperature equation, assuming a local

Planckian distribution,4,35 or as an energy-dependent treatment of the photon

distribution function.2 We consider only the treatment of the electrons and

ions here, since the radiation is most typically treated in an energy-dependent

fashion and is coupled to the electron equation through emission and absorp-

tion terms. The basic equations of the two-temperature, one-fluid model of the

plasma (minus the radiation coupling) take the form:

| + Vpu=0

p(gj+u-v)u=-V/> (6.1)

pcOJ(^+u-v)7;=VK,v7;-/>1.(vu)+w„.(r,-7;)+s,

6.1.1. LAGRANGIAN COORDINATES36

When we write the hydrodynamics equations in terms of r and /, we are using

an Eulerian description in terms of a fixed coordinate frame. For example, the

Eulerian form of the equations of continuity and motion are

! + Vpu=0

_ +u.Vu=__Vp (62)

However, when the fluid is rapidly expanding or contracting or reactions are

occurring, it is useful to move to a reference frame that moves with the local

flow velocity of the fluid. Such a frame is known as a Lagrangian description.

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186

COMPl TER SIMULATION

Example: Plane Flow Consider a fluid particle at position x and the

coordinate of a reference particle at (see Figure 6.3). The mass (per unit

area) between x and x, is given by

m = jXp{x')dx'

(6.3)

(Note that m just labels which particle we are considering—namely that

particle that has a certain mass between it and xx.) Hence we can treat m as a

new variable, noting that

dm — pdx

The fluid mass separating one particle from another, m, is therefore taken as

the appropriate Lagrangian variable.

To convert the hydrodynamics equations describing plane fluid flow to

Lagrangian form, we first write their Eulerian form as

or

Dp , du_

-bl+pYx-°

(6.4)

where we have introduced the substantial derivative (in the reference frame of

the flow)

Dt - dt dx

If we now make a variable substitution, dm — pdx, we find that the equation of

continuity can be written as

DV _ 9m

Dt - dm

where we have introduced the specific volume, V= 1 /p. But in Lagrangian

Figure 63. Relationship between space and

mass coordinates.
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HYDRODYNAMIC CODES

187

Table 6.2 A Comparison of Eulerian and Lagrangian Coordinates

in One-Dimensional Plane Flow

Eulerian Lagrangian

Continuity

Dp_

du

dV

_ j)w

equation

Dt

pdx

dt

dm

Equation

Du _

du

of motion

Dt

p dx

9/

dm

coordinates moving with the flow,

Dt^dt

Hence the continuity equation in Lagrangian coordinates becomes

where we now regard m and / as the independent variables, V{m,t) and

u(m, i) as dependent variables. A comparison of the Eulerian and Lagrangian

form of the continuity and motion equations in one dimensional plane flow is

given in Table 6.2.

Suppose we have solved for V(m,t) and u(m,t). Then to get back to

Eulerian variables, p(x, t) and u(x, /), we first integrate

dx- V(m,t)dm

to find

x(m,t)= V(m,,t)dm, + x\(t) (6.6)

.'o

We can then use this to find p(x, t) = [V(x, r)l 1 and u(x, t).
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Example: Spherical Geometry We now define the Lagrangian mass coor-

dinate in spherical geometry by

dm = p4irr2 dr

Then the Lagrangian form of the hydrodynamics equations becomes

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188

COMPUTER SIMULATION

Frequently one omits the 4w factor and defines the dependent variables per

steradian. Then the Lagrangian form of the hydrodynamics equations in

spherical geometry become

The most general Lagrangian form is

Yt=-vvP

However, it should be noted at this point that Lagrangian coordinates are most

easily implemented in coordinate systems with one-dimensional symmetry. In

two and three dimensions they lead to some complications in defining an

appropriate numerical mesh structure that avoids singularities due to distor-

tion.

The general Lagrangian form of the hydrodynamics equations for one-

dimensional symmetry is

W - » / a-i ^

9u _ .8-1 *P

— r

(6.7)

where

3/ dm

1 plane (mass/unit area)

6=2 cylindrical (mass/unit length-radian)

3 spherical (mass/steradian),

We will write the general Lagrangian form of the two-temperature, one-fluid

plasma model as

9u 1

P^-gf = VKt V T-pe{ Vu) -«„.(T- T,) + Se

97"

pcvi-£f = V k, V T,-Pi( V • u)+«„( T- Tt) + S, (6.8)

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HYDRODYNAMIC CODES

189

The key to Lagrangian coordinates involves the fact that they move with the

fluid. That is, they are like chalk lines on a rubber sheet. If you stretch or

distort the sheet, the chalk lines distort with it. When the hydrodynamics

equations are discretized for numerical solution, the mass (rather than the

volume) of the spatial zones in a Lagrangian mesh cell is conserved.

6.1.2. NUMERICAL SOLUTION OF THE HYDRODYNAMICS

EQUATIONS

To be explicit, let us consider the Lagrangian form of the hydrodynamics

equations in one-dimensional spherical geometry:

Since these equations are hyperbolic, they have solutions with a characteristic

propagation speed. Furthermore these equations (in the absence of dissipative

terms) admit discontinuous solutions (shock waves) that can create difficulties

for finite difference schemes. Hence we need some tricks to handle their

numerical solution.

Artificial Viscosity (von Neumann q). It is difficult to handle shock waves

described by the inviscid hydrodynamics equations numerically, since a step

discontinuity arises. Although suitable numerical schemes can be devised for

very specialized problems, the general simulation of the complex flows encoun-

tered in ICF targets requires a more universal "fixup." Von Neumann37

proposed that one introduce a phony or artificial viscosity, which he labeled by

q, to spread out the shock wave over a few zones of the numerical spatial mesh.

Since the artificial viscosity is set equal to zero on either side of the shock, it

does not affect the flow transition across the shock which is determined by the

conservation laws as manifested in the Rankine-Hugoniot relations.

The von Neumann q must be chosen very carefully to yield a constant

thickness for all shocks. This requires quadratic terms in velocity gradients

(equivalent to using a small viscosity for weak shocks and a large viscosity for

strong shocks). For example, one can define

1=y

om

3K

-g-<0 (compression)

8K

= 0, -jr- >0 (expansion) (6.10)

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where it is customary to choose b—2x/2.

In summary, then, the artificial viscosity is chosen so that it dissipates

energy in a shock to a few surrounding finite difference zones while preserving

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190

COMPUTER SIMULATION

the Rankine-Hugoniot relations across the shock. This preserves the essential

features of the shock while reducing the gradients across the shock to values

that allow the treatment by general finite difference methods. (A useful hint in

analyzing data generated by hydrodynamics codes is to print out the value of q

along with other hydrodynamic variables. Then one can easily determine those

regions where shock waves are forming by noting where q is nonzero. Further-

more, the strength of the shock is measured by the size of q.)

Recent developments in flux-conserving transport based numerical methods

have largely removed the need for introducing an artificial viscosity.38 How-

ever, most of the hydrodynamics codes used in ICF applications continue to

use this older method.

Differencing Schemes. The hydrodynamics equations are coupled, nonlin-

ear partial differential equations since the transport coefficients depend strongly

upon temperature, for example, Ke~Tes/2 and uei~T^3/2. These equations are

usually solved using standard finite difference techniques. The first

equation (the equation of motion) is hyperbolic and has a characteristic

propagation speed. It also admits discontinuous solutions (shocks) that create

difficulties for general finite difference schemes. Because of these properties,

this equation is usually solved using an explicit differencing technique:39

~ = -^v(p" + q") (6.11)

q"=q(t") for V<0 (compression)

= 0 for V>0 (expansion)

The spatial difference was not specified here since it varies depending on

whether the equation is solved in one or two dimensions. This equation

requires a stability condition given by39

c At

ij-<l (6.,2)

where cs is the sound speed in the plasma. This is known as the Courant

condition. It prevents a disturbance from propagating across a finite difference

zone in less than one time step.

To be more explicit in the differencing scheme, let us consider the case of a

simple one-dimensional geometry. We begin by breaking up the Lagrangian

grid into J zones. That is, we discretize the variable m as shown in Figure 6.4.

It is common to choose equal increments in m, that is, equal mass zoning.

Notice that the radius of each zone, ry(r), is actually a function of time. In
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simple one-dimensional codes one might choose from 30 to 100 zones. The

where
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HYDRODYNAMIC CODES

191

Center

1 ;-1 /

j th zone

Outside

/-I

"H-+

2 3 «- 1 n «

I*)

Figure 6.4. Time and spatial zoning mesh structures, (a) Spatial zoning, (b) Time

zoning.

time variable is also discretized (again, see Figure 6.4). Here we will use the

standard notation

u(ntj,t„)=u]

If we use an explicit differencing scheme, we can write

un+l/2_un-l/2

A/,

1 = -('/)-

where

Next, we use

( pj\ \/l-Pj- I/2) U"+1/2-g"-l/2)

Am,

Aw,

Ar"=|(Ar+1/2 + Ar"-'/2)

A«j.= i ( Am>+ ,/2 + A m> 1/2)

fy-1/2~ j/

* i —

7-1/2

fcAm

7i+ 1 _rn = un+ \/2^n + 1/2

to give the change in the location of they-th zone as a function of time.

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The continuity equation can be bypassed by calculating

A rn + 1
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COMPUTER SIMULATION

We also need to use

Vn+\/2—l(Vn+\ it/n \

Vn+i/2- ! /V"+l _ V" \

1/2 V K/- 1/2 Vj-\/2)

Temperature Equations (Heat Conduction). The coupled temperature equa-

tions are parabolic, which should imply that they have an infinite propagation

speed. However, due to nonlinear thermal conductivity, they exhibit a behavior

similar to that of a wave equation and, in fact, do have a finite propagation

(recall Section 4.1). Nevertheless, these equations are typically solved using an

implicit differencing technique, since their characteristic time scale is usually

much more rapid than that characterizing the equation of motion and hence an

explicit scheme would impose a much stricter time step constraint. The

temperature equations need not be solved simultaneously, since their coupling

is weak.

To be more precise, consider the simple linear heat conduction equation

=« 7 1

3' dx2y

An explicit numerical solution scheme would discretize this equation as

Tjl-lTf+Tf^

tl j

(Ax)2

(The node structure is shown in Figure 6.5.) Here we note that the spatial

' 7J"+l-27*" + 7J" ,'

B+ 1

11

A/

(Ax)2

'/+i

"-1,

Af K2

(r/+l-277 + 77-,)

(Ax)2

(Ax)2

n + i_
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—

"j

7+1

Figure 6.5. Differencing schemes for thermal conduction equations.

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HYDRODYNAMIC CODES 193

derivative is evaluated at the earlier time step ta. Since all T" are known, we

can explicitly solve for the temperature 7}"+1. However, stability problems

arise if kA//( Ax)2> {.

An alternative and more satisfactory approach is to use the Crank-Nicholson

differencing scheme:39

A/ 2

(Ax)2 J \ (Ax)2

(6.13)

This is now an unconditionally stable difference scheme. But 7J"V, T"+ \ and

T"J\1 on the right-hand side are unknown. Hence we must solve this equation

implicitly (in this case, this corresponds to a linear tridiagonal system of

equations for the 7J"+I).

Although this is a straightforward scheme for linear problems, it does

present problems when we have a nonlinear conduction problem of the form

ar_ a . .vr

3/ dxK[1)dx

Then we must use either extrapolation or iteration techniques. For example, we

might write

^i^r:=v-K,'v[^+(i-«)7-"+']+...

where, once again, a specific spatial differencing scheme has not been included

to keep the notation simple. The parameter 6 is frequently taken as 4, for if the

equations were linear (which they are not), this value would give a second-order

accurate differencing scheme. In light of nonlinearities and the variable time

and space mesh steps, this can at best be considered an imperfect solution. The

nonlinear thermal conductivity has been shown with an explicit evaluation

K" = K[T"(r)]

in the equation of thermal conduction, which is an approximation difficult to

improve on in a two-dimensional calculation. In a one-dimensional calculation,

several other possibilities exist. Past temperatures at each mesh point can be

saved and used to extrapolate ahead in time to evaluate k at n + \,

-n+ 1/2 —. ^ rpn+ ^ 'j'n+ 1/2— *pn — 2 j-,n—\

or the temperature equations can be iterated by reevaluating the nonlinear

coefficients until the temperatures converge pointwise. However, even in one

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194

COMPUTER SIMULATION

dimension, each of these methods has drawbacks. Experience has shown that

neither is as stable as the single explicit evaluation method, and they often

require more stringent conditions on the time step than the explicit evaluation.

Furthermore, an "uninteresting" part of the plasma is usually the source of the

smaller time step (e.g., the blowoff region far beyond the critical density). In

laser fusion calculations, the plasma electrons usually increase in temperature

due to thermal conduction from a source of heat. This is a stable process for

these two schemes; however, when electrons decrease in temperature, it is often

because of an expansion of the plasma. The strong thermal conduction

continually "feeds" these loss zones and an instability results.

For linear diffusion equations, the Crank-Nicholson (0=i) differencing

scheme ensures unconditional stability. However this is not the case for

nonlinear equations where no rigorous estimate of the stability condition can

be made. Experience has shown that a time step constrained to ensure

max(A7y7")< j usually provides stable solutions, but values as small as are

necessary for some calculations. Quite often it is this ad hoc stability condition

that sets the time step in the hydrodynamics calculation rather than the

Courant condition.

Some Comments on Two-Dimensional Lagrangian Codes. The most

sophisticated Lagrangian hydrodynamics codes are two dimensional in nature

(typically r—z cylindrical geometry). Such codes allow the simulation of

non-symmetric hydrodynamic motion and heat conduction due to nonuniform

illumination of the target.40"48

Figure 6.6 shows a symmetric target nonuniformally illuminated by two

laser beams. Figure 6.7 presents a prediction of the glass fuel interface at the

time of peak thermonuclear burn (along with temperature and density con-

tours) using the two-dimensional LASNEX code.2 Figure 6.8 shows a LASNEX

calculation of an unstable implosion using very fine zoning.41

2 synchronous loser beams,

~ 13 to 15 J/beom,

~75 ps FWHM,

Figure 6.6. Schematic of a glass microsphere implosion

with strong irradiation asymmetry. (Courtesy of

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.)

DT"filled gloss microsphere,

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80 jim diameter,

0.6 fjm wall thickness,

I m g/cm3 fill
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HYDRODYNAMIC CODES

195

Figure 6.7. Conditions predicted by

LASNEX at the time of peak thermonuclear

burn. (Courtesy of Lawrence Livermore

Laboratory.)

The point to be made by these examples is that the processes involved in

practical inertial confinement fusion applications rarely are amenable to a

one-dimensional simulation. The validity of one-dimensional results depend

upon the symmetry of the problem and the careful interpretation of the output.

In fact, even two-dimensional calculations cannot fully describe many situa-

tions that are actually three dimensional in nature. Some important effects

such as fluid instabilities and magnetic field generation are inherently two-

dimensional in nature and cannot be modeled with one-dimensional codes.

Two-dimensional calculations are very expensive and are feasible only on

the fastest of computers. Even with this great expense, the numerical algo-

0.970 0.975 0.980

Shell radius, cm

Figure 6.8. Implosion of a 100-/im thick, 1-cm beryllium shell with a 200-TW laser

indicating strong asymmetries in compression.

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COMPUTER SIMULATION

rithms are usually very simple extensions of one-dimensional methods. Alter-

nating direction methods are often used to solve the implicit heat transport

equations, while explicit methods are again used for the equation of motion.

However these methods can lead to gross inaccuracies when the finite dif-

ference mesh distorts, as we saw in Figure 6.8. To solve these problems more

sophisticated full matrix inversion schemes such as the incomplete Cholesky-

Conjugate Gradient method49 have been implemented in codes such as

LASNEX. This approach involves a full matrix inversion scheme rather than

the standard method of operator splitting that reduces the problem to tridiago-

nal matrix inversion.

Zone distortion is an important problem in multidimensional Lagrangian

codes because the mesh is imbedded in the fluid. This may not be a problem in

two dimensions if the motion is well-behaved. However shear flows can often

develop, and this can prove troublesome.50 Vortices also cannot be handled by

Lagrangian codes. Figure 6.9 demonstrates the problem with a very simple

example of a strong force pushing diagonally on the corner of a quadrilateral

zone. If the other mesh points of the zone remain fixed, the zone develops a

concave boundary and becomes a "banana zone." The temperature equations

are usually solved in two dimensions by making two sweeps through the mesh,

(operator splitting) once along the /c-index lines and then along the /-index

lines, while holding the diffusion in the respective transverse direction fixed

during each sweep (Figure 6.10). The problems of a banana zone become clear

when the sweep path through the zone is as indicated in Figure 6.9. Such badly

distorted zones also demand very small time steps to maintain stability.

Many different "fixups" were devised to minimize or correct this zone

distortion problem. A more sophisticated generalization of the artificial viscos-

LAGRANGIAN COORDINATES

" MESH IS IMBEDDED IN FLUID

CLASSIC PROBLEM

- ZONE DISTORTION

SOLUTION

- REZONING

- MIXED EULERian-lagrangian Figure 6.9. A schematic diagram of the

problems created by the distortions of

ADVANTAGES two-dimensional Lagrangian finite dif-

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- BETTER RESOLUTION ference zones.

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HYDRODYNAMIC CODES

197

k - line

{-line

{-sweep

k-sweep

(a)

—

&

(b)

Figure 6.10. A schematic of two-dimensional zoning showing the use of slide lines.

ity can be added to the code that will mitigate zone distortion while maintain-

ing the conservation properties of the fluid. When shear flow can be identified

a priori, use of "slide lines" may be helpful. In this scheme, as shown in Figure

6.10, specified k or / lines are allowed to decouple and slide against one

another. This idea is conceptually simple; however, in practice it is an

extremely complex bookkeeping task to implement. A somewhat different

approach involves stopping the calculation once zones have distorted suffi-

ciently and rezoning the problem before continuing. This is commonly done

with most large two-dimensional codes, and sophisticated computer graphics

programs have been developed to allow the user to automatically reposition

mesh points with a light pen. Here again, one attempts to maintain conserva-

tion laws. Another method of hydrodynamic computation, known as mixed

Eulerian-Lagrangian, can also alleviate the zone distortion problem somewhat.

Despite all of these drawbacks, there are nevertheless good reasons for using

Lagrangian coordinates. As noted earlier, when the mass of the fluid originally

falls within the borders of a zone, it remains within that zone throughout the

calculation. This is very important when materials with very different proper-

ties are adjacent to one another, such as would be the case in a D-T gas-filled

glass microballoon. In Eulerian calculations, the mesh remains fixed and the

fluid flows through it, so that as time progresses, zones near the original

D-T/glass interface contain both glass and D-T gas. Very fine Eulerian zoning

would be necessary near the interface to maintain spatial resolution; the

average properties of the D-T/glass mixture would be difficult to determine.

There is no mixing in Lagrangian coordinates and hence no averaging must be

done. Since mesh points follow the fluid in a Lagrangian calculation, there
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tend to be more mesh points in steep density gradients and fewer points where
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198

COMPUTER SIMULATION

the gradient is small, just as there should be to maintain good resolution. These

considerations most often outweigh the disadvantages of zone distortion.

Time Step Size. Yet another important factor in the numerical solution of

the plasma hydrodynamics equations is the choice of the time step size, At. We

have already noted that this choice is constrained by stability considerations

(i.e., the Courant condition). The time step size will vary throughout the

hydrodynamic calculation by orders to magnitude. While the implosion pro-

cess occurs on the time scale of nanoseconds, the thermonuclear burn phase is

through in a few picoseconds. During the final stages of compression and

thermonuclear burn, the time step size can become as small as 10"14 s. The

computer code must contain logic to determine the optimum time step size as

the calculation proceeds.

Table Interpolation. Another important feature of ICF target design codes

involves interpolation of equation of state and opacity data in multidimen-

sional tables. This data is generated at great expense using complex computer

codes that calculate the atomic properties of materials at extreme pressures and

temperatures. The results of these calculations are tabulated on a density-

temperature grid for use in hydrodynamics calculations. As an example of such

data, we have shown the specific internal energy for Xe in Figure 6.11. The

derivative of the specific energy with respect to temperature yields the specific

heat, cv = (de/dT)v, which is a key parameter in a hydrodynamics calculation.

Figure 6.11. The specific internal energy of xenon as a function of density and

temperature. (Courtesy of University of Wisconsin.)

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HYDRODYNAMIC CODES

199

Both the temperature and density grid as well as the data itself range over

several orders of magnitude. Therefore it is often convenient to tabulate the

logarithm of the data on a logarithmic temperature-density grid. Bilinear

interpolation of the logarithmic data followed by exponentiation has been

found to yield quite accurate results. Another method of data storage involves

using analytic functions to fit the data, and then storing the fitting coefficients.

While this latter method requires more storage space and is not cost effective

for many target design calculations, it does allow for a more accuration

determination of derivatives of the data (such as the specific heat).

One of the early plasma hydrodynamics codes developed for inertial confine-

ment fusion studies was the WAZER code developed at Lawrence Livermore

Laboratories.3 We summarize the essential features of this code, since it is

typical of many of the codes in use today. The code describes the hydrody-

namic behavior of a single fluid, two-temperature plasma in one-dimensional

geometry (in plane, cylindrical, or spherical coordinates). Specific processes

included in the code include:

1. Heat flow due to thermal diffusion.

2. Heat exchange between electrons and ions.

3. Heat loss from electrons as radiation.

4. Hydrodynamic effects of all energy transformations.

5. Addition of energy through absorption of laser light.

6. Production of energy by thermonuclear reactions.

7. Gain or loss of energy by heat conduction across boundaries or work done

on or by the system at boundaries.

Hydrodynamic Equations. The one-dimensional hydrodynamic equations in

Lagrangian coordinates used in the code (written in spherical coordinates) are:

Heat Transfer. The temperature equations for the electrons and ions are

taken as

6.1.3. WAZER. AN EXAMPLE OF AN ICF PLASMA

HYDRODYNAMICS CODE

8K

3/

3u

3/

+ TlpTl-K
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MKlr2i£)-u,l{T-T,)+si

MK,r2i?)-u,l{T,-Tl)+s,-s.
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200

COMPUTER SIMULATION

where the thermal conductivities are given by

40(2/7r)3/2£(£7;):

my2(Ze)*\nA,

5/2

40(2/Tr)3/2k(kTe)5/

Y2e*\n A(Z+3.44 + 0.261n Z)

and the electron-ion energy exchange coefficient is

(2V*)'/2(^Ze2)VlnA

mime[(Te/me) + (Ti/mi)]

3/2

Radiation. Heat loss through bremsstrahlung is modeled by a sink term in

the electron temperature equation:

Equation of State. A variety of equation of state models can be used,

ranging from ideal gas (p = NkT) to more complex Thomas-Fermi-Dirac or

tabulated data.

Absorption of Laser Light. If <f> is the incident photon energy flux, then the

energy source term due to laser light energy absorption that appears in the

electron temperature equation is

where k is the light absorption coefficient. We can break the light flux into two

components, an inward-directed component and an outward-directed com-

ponent \p+

where

S=kV^>

<f»=-(«r+>n

The light flux enters the system from the outer boundary such that

*-('«x) = *(0

where ^(t) is a prescribed function characterizing the time dependence of the

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HYDRODYNAMIC CODES 201

incident laser pulse. The light then passes through the zones of the plasma as

governed by

dr

-Kip

When it reaches the critical surface (or the origin of an underdense spherical

plasma), it is reflected and propagates back outward as governed by

"4T—"*

The light absorption coefficient can be modeled in several ways. If only

classical (inverse bremsstrahlung) absorption is present, we would take

However it is more common to model the absorption assuming an anomalous

process such as resonance absorption or parametric excitation occurs in the

neighborhood of the critical surface. Typically one simply assumes that a

certain fraction of the incident laser light is dumped into the first overdense

mass zone.

Thermonuclear Reactions. In a D-T fueled pellet, the dynamics of the

thermonuclear reactions are described by the rate equations

dN

ST = - ( vaDT ) NTND + 4< 0°DD ) ND

dt

dt

"aT = - ( vaDD )nd-( voDT > NTND

A variety of options can be used to describe the fusion energy release. In very

dilute fuels, one can simply assume that the alphas and neutrons carry away

the reaction energy. However in dense fuels, one usually assumes that the

alphas deposit their energy immediately as

SDT=(3.6 MeV)(u<rDT) NDNTV

In partitioning of the alpha energy deposition among electrons and ions, one

can use a crude model

' 32+7; 120+7;

= 325DT 1205DD

e 32+7; 120+7;

where temperatures are in keV.

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COMPUTER SIMULATION

Other Features. Most such codes contain the capability to calculate total

energy balances as a check on the accuracy of the code. The time steps used in

the code are usually variable. They are restricted by the Courant condition that

demands Ax/At be larger than the rate at which a disturbance would be

propagated through the medium hydrodynamically. They are also frequently

restricted by demanding that the fractional density or temperature change of

any zone in a given time step be less than some specified limit (say, 10%).

6.2. PARTICLE TRANSPORT

In addition to plasma hydrodynamics, particle transport processes play an

important role in inertial confinement fusion targets.51, 52 These processes

include radiative transfer, suprathermal electron transport, and charged par-

ticle fusion reaction product transport. Fast neutron transport can also become

important for very high p-R targets.53 Each of these particles possesses a mean

free path that is considerably longer than the characteristic scale length of the

hydrodynamic background plasma in some regions of the target. This behavior

rules out the possibility of treating these species within a hydrodynamics

framework.

These particles must be treated as separate species that interact with the

plasma fluid through gain and loss terms in the temperature equations and

through a momentum source term in the equation of motion. Furthermore, to

characterize those particles "created" and "destroyed" by thermonuclear reac-

tions, as well as the heating of thermal electrons up into a suprathermal

distribution by driver interaction, the continuity equation must also include a

gain and loss term. In practice, mass is automatically conserved by each zone

in a Lagrangian code, so that this gain and loss computation is actually just a

matter of bookkeeping.

The transport of radiation is not discussed here (see Chapter 5 for details)

except to point out some of the standard methods of solution of the equations

of radiative transfer. If the radiation mean free path is short enough, the

photon distribution can be assumed to be the local thermal Planckian distribu-

tion (local thermodynamic equilibrium), and the radiation can be characterized

by its own temperature and temperature diffusion equation.4 This treatment is

consistent with the hydrodynamic treatment of the plasma fluid and leads to a

"three-temperature" fluid model (electrons, ions, and photons). The photon

transport equation itself can be solved more directly using discrete ordinate
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(SNf4 or Monte Carlo techniques.55 However these are generally very expen-

sive to implement in time-dependent problems and are used only in special

cases. More typically the photon transport equation is expanded in angular

moments to arrive at an approximate diffusionlike equation (using a prescrip-

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tion known as the Eddington or variable Eddington method).32 The frequency

dependence is discretized into a number of groups to lead to a multigroup

diffusion equation description. This set of equations is frequently modified

using the "flux-limiting" prescription described later in this section to account

for long photon mfp,s.

PARTICLE TRANSPORT

203

More peculiar to inertial confinement fusion plasmas is the transport of

suprathermal electrons and charged particle reaction products. Suprathermal

electrons play a significant role in the pellet implosion process, since they are

created by driver (laser light) interaction in the outer regions of the pellet and

stream inward carrying their energy into the dense fuel core. With energies in

excess of 100 keV, these hot electrons may not be stopped until they stream

through the ablation front into the cold compressed fuel ahead of the front.

This heats up the cold plasma, resulting in a nonisentropic compression and a

degradation of the implosion process. To remedy this situation, pellets are

designed with high-Z material surrounding the D-T fuel that serves both as a

tamper/pusher to enhance the implosion process and as a shield against the

suprathermal electrons and high-frequency X-rays.

Fusion reaction product charged particles are principally the alphas (*He),

tritons (?T), and helium-3 nuclei (2 He) occurring as products of D-T and D-D

fusion reactions. The temperature of the burning D-T fuel is typically 20 to 100

keV, so that each of the reaction products is highly nonthermal (ranging in

energy from 1 to 3 MeV).

6.2.1. MULTIGROUP FLUX-LIMITED DIFFUSION THEORY

The method that has received the greatest use to date for the transport of these

nonthermal particles in inertial confinement fusion hydrodynamics codes is

multigroup flux-limited diffusion theory.56"58 This method is used in LASNEX,

a two-dimensional Lagrangian hydrodynamics code developed at the Lawrence

Livermore Laboratory. Flux-limited diffusion theory uses a diffusion equation

to model particle transport with a flux-corrected diffusion coefficient to

account for long mfp situations. The particle slowing down is described by a

discrete particle energy (multigroup) structure:

energy group g. To define the coefficients in the equation, one can refer to the

Fokker-Planck equation for the distribution function /a(r,v, t) characterizing

particles of species a

(6.15)

where the force term is given by

F«=<7a(E + vXB)

while the collision term is

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204

COMPUTER SIMULATION

where K and L are the velocity space diffusion and drag terms. Due to the long

range nature of the Coulomb potential, charged particles slow down through

many small angle scattering events. The collision term in the Fokker-Planck

equation models this process.

Solution of the Fokker-Planck equation in an infinite medium yields several

characteristic transport times of interest. The time required for a fast particle

to deflect through an angle of 90°, td, is given by59

(m/2)'/2£3/2

rd- 2wZVlnA,2Z^

where m, £, and Z are the mass, energy, and charge of the fast particle, and Z,

and Nt are the charge and density of the 7-th ionic species. Using this deflection

time, a macroscopic transport cross section can be defined as

2,r=(»Tc)"l = \-1

while the multigroup diffusion coefficient is then given as

g 32trg

The deflection time td is obtained from the Fokker-Planck equation by

considering the K term in the collision model. This term modifies the distribu-

tion by relaxing it toward isotropy.

The slowing down of particles depends on both the K and L terms in the

Fokker-Planck equation. For fast ion transport at high energy, the L term

dominates and is due to interactions with electrons. As the fast ion slows

down, the K term dominates and slowing is due to larger angle collisions with

thermal ions. In Figure 6.12 we have plotted dv/ds for the thermal electron

and ion contributions as a function of fast particle velocity. The domination of

the electron component at high energy and the ion component at low energy is

apparent.

If we let

dv dv

and define

dt ds

dt
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PARTICLE TRANSPORT

205

Figure 6.12. A plot of dv/ds versus the velocity of a fast alpha particle slowing down

in a D-T plasma, for electron temperatures of 1, 10, and 50 keV.

then the slowing down operator can be expressed as

g g T, Vi

The multigroup diffusion equations can then be written as

3AL 1 1

g=l,...,G

(6.16)

where we assume particles can only scatter into group g from the next higher

energy group. When particles reach thermal energies, they are added back into

the hydrodynamic equations characterizing the thermal plasma.

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206

COMPUTER SIMULATION

Unfortunately, diffusion theory is not a very good approximation to the

transport of fast charged particles. This approximation can be "fixed up" by

the procedure of flux limiting.60 Recall that the diffusion equation is obtained

from the particle continuity equation

dN

— + VJ + LN = S

at

by using a diffusion or Fick,s law type of approximation to express the particle

current in terms of the gradient of the density

For those situations in which N\<\m, (that is, in the transport regime),

the magnitude of the particle current is overestimated by the diffusion ap-

proximation. We can correct for this by redefining the particle current density

as an interpolation between its diffusion form and the free streaming limit

(refer to Chapter 5 for more details):

\ + \DvN/JmJ

-DVN (6.17)

where 7max is chosen in some appropriate way to correspond to the current in

the free-streaming limit^

The expression Dv N is designated in this way because the gradient

operator does not enter the difference equations in an explicit manner. This

entire expression is simply estimated from values of D and N from the previous

time step, and the flux-limited diffusion coefficient D is computed using this

estimate. This ad hoc diffusion coefficient ensures physically plausible trans-

port of the particles when diffusion theory holds:

DVN for DvN<zJ

max

When the mean free path is very long,

J-Jmax for DvN»Jmax

An accurate treatment of the slowing down of charged particles by multi-

group methods can be a problem. This is a continuous slowing down process

with a strong coupling between the energy, space, and time variables. This can

result in a great deal of numerical diffusion in energy space, with as many as

100 groups required to give reasonable accuracy.

The multigroup equations also are of only first-order accuracy in the energy

variable and usually are of only first-order accuracy in time as well, since a
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fully implicit differencing scheme must be used to allow the hydrodynamic

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PARTICLE TRANSPORT

207

time step to be used:

Of course, this is a general scheme that can be used to model almost any kind

of particle transport. It produces reasonably good results for nondiffusive

problems, and it is very straightforward to implement numerically, even in two

dimensions. It embodies the essentials of most transport problems and should

give reasonable answers for integrated quantities, such as total reaction rates.

However, care should be taken when interpreting detailed results of the

flux-limited diffusion treatment of transport-dominated problems. Over less

than one mean free path, flux-limited diffusion can entirely miss details for

certain types of problems.

An alternative approach to charged particle transport is to use techniques that

are specifically adapted to the behavior of the particular charged particles. In

Figure 6.13 we see that an ion beam streaming through a background plasma

has far less dispersion in velocity than an electron beam.61 The electron beam

becomes much more isotropic as it slows down because of large-angle scatter-

ing; however, the ion beam simply slows down without much scattering out of

the beam trajectory. The electron behavior tends to reinforce the applicability

of flux-limited diffusion theory as a description of electron transport, for that

treatment demands that the distribution function be nearly isotropic. In the

case of thermonuclear reaction products, however, ion beam results indicate

6.2.2. PARTICLE TRACKING METHODS

HU

II

Figure 6.13. A plot of velocity space at different times for beams of electrons and ions

in a hydrogen background plasma.

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208

COMPUTER SIMULATION

that isotropy is not reached until near the end of the particle path to

thermalization. This behavior can be used to great advantage in modeling the

reaction product transport for it implies that a simple straight line trajectory

will be a good approximation. This is the basic assumption used in particle

tracking algorithms.

In a one-dimensional Lagrangian hydrodynamic treatment, a spherical

plasma is divided into concentric shells or zones, and the plasma behavior is

represented by the finite difference solution to the hydrodynamics equations

for these zones. To model the charged particle fusion reaction products, we

assume that those created in each zone stream along a finite number of rays

that originate in the center of the zone.61 As they stream, they experience the

Coulomb drag force represented by the L terms in the Fokker-Planck equation.

A range-energy relation can be expressed in the following form:

where A is due to scattering on thermal electrons and B corresponds to

scattering from thermal ions. (These expressions have been used in Figure

6.14.) The straight line trajectory is valid during most of the slowing down

process; however, near the end, the fast particle loses its energy in large-angle

collisions with thermal ions (straggling). In the transport of fusion reaction

products, it is the energy redeposition back into the thermal electrons that is of

greatest importance. Near the end of a reaction product trajectory, it has very

little energy remaining; hence the error in estimating redeposition ignoring

straggling is small.

We solve the range-energy equation along a ray as the particle passes from

one zone boundary to the next by integrating along its exact path length:

where As is the distance across the zone along the particle trajectory, u0 is the

particle velocity on entering the zone, Au is the velocity loss in crossing the

zone, and g(v) = [K(v)]"'. This equation is an integral equation for Au that

can be solved by using a Taylor expansion to find

dv a _l B Vt \

(6.18)

where

A=A0(Z2/m)(lnAe)Ne/TeV2

*=^(zy«)0nA,)2(Z,2JVp)

Au =

K(v0)*s
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[\ + {K,(v0)As]
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PARTICLE TRANSPORT

209

ELECTRON DEPOSITION

PARTICLE TRACKING

MONTE CARLO (Ref. 25)

FLUX-LIMITED DIFFUSION (Ref. 25)

0.125

0.25

Figure 6.14. Plots of the fraction of alpha particle energy deposited in electrons and

ions as a function of the distance traveled by the alpha particle measured in units of its

mfp to a collision with an electron.

This procedure is accurate for Au/u0«l; however, should Au/t?0>l, then the

particles have thermalized within the zone so again the error to energy

redeposition is not serious. Only the partitioning of the energy to the electrons

and ions is important. The total energy lost in a zone is simply

&E=12m[vl-{v0-Av)2]N

where N is the number of ions streaming along a given ray. The fraction of this

energy going to the electrons is

Should the particles slow to thermal energy in the zone, then the fraction of

energy going to the electrons can be obtained from the results of an infinite

medium calculation, tabulated as a function of electron temperature. Then the

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210

C OMPUTER SIMULATION

loss to the ions in either case is

In addition to energy redeposition, the nonthermal ions also impart momen-

tum to the zone

m&vN cos a = A/A u

where A/ is the zone mass, m is the nonthermal mass, and a is the angle

between the trajectory of the ions and the outward radial direction. The

algorithm to compute the energy redeposition from the reaction product ions

involves a computation for each reaction product, in each finite difference

zone, and along each straight line ray originating in that zone. This computa-

tion tracks the ion trajectories from creation to thermalization or escape and

would tally the amount of energy and momentum deposited in each zone along

their path. This algorithm must be executed for each reaction product that is

transported from each finite difference zone along each straight line ray.

The particle tracking algorithm discussed above has taken an "adiabatic"

approach to the time dependence of the slowing down process. That is, a

slowing down calculation is performed for each time step in the hydrody-

namics calculation. Fast ions are forced to thermalize or escape the plasma

during the time step in which they are created. This assumption can break

down, however, and in these cases one can implement a time-dependent

particle tracking method that develops an energy-time relationship analogous

to the range-energy relationship used in the adiabatic method.1,8 However this

generalization requires a rather complex programming logic.

Particle tracking methods differ significantly from flux-limited diffusion.

The former presumes streaming as the dominant physical process and then

corrects for large-angle scattering, while the latter presumes diffusion and

corrects for streaming. From Fokker-Planck studies of the detailed behavior of

charged particles, it is apparent that flux-limited diffusion methods are most

applicable to suprathermal electron transport, while particle tracking methods

are most useful for nonthermal ion transport (e.g., reaction products).

6.2.3. DIRECT SOLUTION OF THE FOKKER-PLANCK

EQUATION

The most common description of the cumulative effect of many random, small

angle collisions on the particle distribution function is provided by the Fokker-

Planck equation.62 We have already noted that the Fokker-Planck equation is

used as the basis for approximate theories of charged particle transport

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including flux-limited diffusion theory and particle tracking methods. More

direct numerical methods for solving the Fokker-Planck equation have been

developed for magnetic fusion systems63 (particularly magnetic mirror devices),

but generally the spatial dependence is suppressed, and only the velocity space
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diffusion is retained.
PLASMA SIMULATION (PARTICLE) CODES

211

It is possible to solve the Fokker-Planck equation in full generality including

time, space, and velocity dependence by using discrete ordinates methods.51,52

Discrete ordinates methods are particularly attractive for this purpose since

they have been highly developed for the solution of neutral particle (neutron

and photon) transport problems. Indeed, there are a variety of sophisticated

and efficient one and two dimensional computer codes available that have

planar, cylindrical, and spherical geometry options (as well as toroidal and

triangular meshes for nonorthogonal geometries) and allow for a variety of

boundary and source conditions. The incorporation of the Fokker-Planck

collision term into a multigroup discrete ordinates formalism provides for an

easy extension to a variety of geometries and source configurations.

For example, the TIMEX discrete ordinates code, originally developed for

time-dependent neutron transport, has been modified to describe charged

particle transport by solving the Fokker-Planck equation directly.52 This

approach utilizes a discrete ordinates treatment of the spatial and angular

variables, a multigroup treatment of the energy variable, and an explicit time

differencing scheme. The resulting computer code allows the simulation of

charged particle transport as described by the Fokker-Planck equation allow-

ing for full spatial, velocity, and time dependence.

6.3. PLASMA SIMULATION (PARTICLE) CODES

Plasma physics is an inherently nonlinear phenomenon which can exhibit a

complex structure on a microscopic scale. Hence conventional hydrodynamic

descriptions of the plasma state have only a limited validity. A more thorough

analysis and prediction of plasma behavior generally requires the use of plasma

simulation or particle codes in which the equations of motion for the particles

(ions and electrons) comprising the plasma are integrated directly.64,65 In this

sense, particle simulation codes represent a microscopic simulation of the

plasma dynamics.

The basic approach in plasma simulation is shown in Figure 6.15. The

coordinates of the particles are used to determine a macroscopic charge and

current density. These densities are then used in Maxwell's equations to

equations

Figure 6.15. The basic strategy used in plasma particle dynamics simulation calcula-

tions.
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212

COMPUTER SIMULATION

determine the corresponding self-consistent electric and magnetic fields. These

fields determine the forces acting on the particles, and the corresponding

equations of motion are then integrated with these forces to determine the

coordinates at the next time step.

There are several difficulties with this straightforward approach, however.

The dynamics of the plasma occur on a time scale characterized by the plasma

frequency, hence implying that very small time steps must be taken. Further-

more, the long range of the Coulomb interaction implies that many particles

interact simultaneously. For example, the effective range of interaction is

determined by the Debye length. In a typical fusion plasma, there are perhaps

10s to 106 particles in a Debye sphere. Therefore one cannot simply solve the

equations of motion for each particle,

Rather, one must average or smear out the detailed structure over a relatively

coarse grid (on the scale of the Debye length rather than the interparticle

spacing). Plasma simulation codes attempt to describe the collective behavior

of the plasma rather than the microscopic fields associated with particle

discreteness. A spatial grid is chosen that is sufficiently fine to resolve this

collective behavior while still being sufficiently coarse to ignore the micro-

scopic field structure on length scales comparable to the interparticle spacing.

In effect plasma simulation codes determine the self-consistent fields in the

plasma only on a macroscopic scale characterizing collective behavior. Since a

great many of the plasma particles then experience the same forces arising

from these self-consistent fields (since the variations in the field are not

resolved on the scale of interparticle spacing), the computer simulation model

actually treats a group of particles as an effective or "finite-size" particle for

the purposes of the calculation.

To be more precise, consider an electrostatic plasma simulation code in

which Maxwell,s equations reduce to

Our first task is to assign the particles to a spatial grid. Suppose we consider

the one-dimensional spatial grid shown in Figure 6.16. For convenience we

V -E = 4irp

3
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Figure 6.16. The grid structure used in a

one-dimensional simulation calculation.

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PLASMA SIMULATION (PARTICLE) CODES 213

have taken the cell size 8=1. There are two schemes used to assign the charge

to the grid:

1. Nearest grid point (NGP)

p(')=9

2. Particle in cell (PIC). One interpolates as

p(i)=9(l-A*)

p(/+l)=9Ax

Next we determine the electric field from this charge density using Poisson,s

equation. We can either finite-difference Poisson,s equation directly

8£ a ( \ A

£(/+ 1) = £(/)— 4w o

or Fourier transform Poisson,s equation

ikEk=4irpk

and then invert the transform.

The final step is to map the field from the grid to the particles. Generally

one assigns the force to the particles using the same scheme chosen to assign

the charges to the grid. For example:

1. NGP

F=qE(i)

2. PIC

F=qE(i)(l-Ax)+qE(i+\)Ax

The particle positions and velocities are then updated by a leap-frog algorithm

that defines position and velocity one-half time step apart to achieve a

second-order accuracy in the differencing scheme. That is, the equations of

motion for a particle

i>=F(x)

x=v

are differenced as

x"+l=x"+u"+,/2A/
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214

COMPUTER SIMULATION

This algorithm represents the basic sequence of calculation steps in each time

cycle of the code.

Plasma particle simulation codes are considerably more complex when the

full set of Maxwell's equations are used (such as would be necessary in the

analysis of electromagnetic wave interactions in plasmas). Frequently multi-

pole expansions of the radiation field are used to simplify the calculation.

How good are plasma simulation results? One interesting comparison of the

results given by an electrostatic simulation code with a direct solution of the

Vlasov equation is given by Kruer.64 If we recall that the Vlasov model

corresponds to the nA3D-» oo limit of the microscopic particle dynamics, then it

is apparent that this equation represents the exact behavior of the plasma in

the limit in which collective processes dominate. Kruer has compared the

nonlinear behavior of large amplitude electron plasma waves with those

described by particle codes. The agreement between the Vlasov description and

the plasma simulation are found to be quite good.

The state of the art of plasma simulation codes is quite impressive. A

two-dimensional electromagnetic, relativistic simulation code can involve as

many as 40,000 grid points with a single cell of several Debye lengths in width.

This would allow one to simulate the behavior of a plasma of size 400 X 400 A D

or 6X6 A0 (where A0 is the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation). If

there are 5 to 10 particles per Debye square, this would imply roughly 106

particles. Running the code for 2500 time steps would require roughly 20 hours

of CPU time on a CDC-7600 (Cyber 176).

Typically, such plasma simulation codes are used to determine how micro-

scopic phenomena such as turbulence affect the local plasma properties such as

energy absorption rates and transport coefficients. This information is then

used to adjust ("patch up") the macroscopic description of the plasma pro-

vided by hydrodynamics codes.

Inertial confinement fusion target simulation codes are extremely complex and

expensive to use. Typical one-dimensional calculations require 100 spatial

zones and several thousand time cycles for a single simulation. This translates

into 20 to 100 min of central processor unit (CPU) time on computers such as

the CDC-7600 (Cyber 176). The complexity of the codes arises from the many

different physical processes that must be simultaneously described: plasma

hydrodynamics, particle transport, driver energy deposition, radiative transfer,

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6.4. CONCLUDING REMARKS

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CONCLUDING REMARKS

215

equation of state and opacity table look-ups, thermonuclear reaction rate

equations, and so on. Each part of the calculation is quite extensive in its own

right. Two dimensional calculations are considerably more expensive, and only

those laboratories with dedicated computer facilities for such calculations can

afford to perform these simulations.

The complexity of the codes arises from the many separate components of

program rather than from the sophistication of the physical models used in

each component. Generally the models are kept quite simple to avoid trouble-

some numerical instabilities and the finicky nature of many elaborate numeri-

cal algorithms. Most codes strive to maintain conservation of energy and

momentum during the course of the calculation. This is difficult to achieve

when so many different nonlinear processes are coupled together. However,

careful bookkeeping of the various forms of energy in the calculation (e.g.,

internal, kinetic, radiative, particle) can lead to good conservation properties.

The troublesome details of understanding and running such complex com-

puter codes require a great amount of time to master. Typical operational

design codes have had over 25 man-years of effort devoted to their develop-

ment. This is complicated further by the fact that many of these codes are

being changed on almost a weekly basis, with new bits and pieces of physics

being patched into them. In fact, there will generally be many different

versions of a given code floating around a typical laboratory (sometimes

several versions for each user).

The computer simulation of ICF hydrodynamics and transport is a relatively

new field that has room for much more development. This conclusion seems

apparent from the numerous codes in existence today. The most notable and

complete code is the LASNEX code, with two-dimensional Lagrangian hydro-

dynamics and flux-limited diffusive particle transport. Each of the principal

laboratories involved in ICF research has developed its own set of plasma

hydrodynamics/transport codes for the simulation of target dynamics.

As more experiments are performed, it has become increasingly apparent

that the so-called anomalous effects observed in the experiments are not just a

first-order correction to the classical hydrodynamics behavior of the targets,

but are, in fact, dominating the results. Modeling these processes requires the

treatment of particle distribution functions that may be far from equilibrium.

Flux-limited multigroup diffusion theory is a first attempt to include these

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effects in a hydrodynamics description; however, the necessity for coefficient

adjustments to obtain good agreement with experiment and the sensitivity of

results to numerical parameters such as zoning, time steps, and differencing

techniques raises doubts about the ability of these simple models to provide
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good insight into inertially confined plasma dynamics and target-driver inter-

action. Detailed treatment of particle distribution functions and numerical

schemes designed for accuracy rather than expediency imply a great increase in

computer time for codes that already use large amounts of it. In actual fact, the

solution of the hydrodynamics equations in these codes represents only a small

fraction of the computing cost. Complicated prescriptions for transport must

216

COMPUTER SIMULATION

be recomputed many times for almost all coefficients are both nonlinear and

spatially and time dependent. Particle transport calculations are even more

time consuming.

The inclusion of transport calculations within hydrodynamics calculations is

extremely important, but it will no doubt stretch the capacity of even advanced

computers such as the Cray-IS and Cyber 205. Hence the present "modular"

approach is likely to continue in which a variety of codes are developed and

used to focus on different aspects of the relevant physics, with the hope that

these processes decouple sufficiently to allow a separate analysis.

Despite these many drawbacks, plasma hydrodynamics computer codes will

remain the mainstay of 1CF target design and experimental analysis. The

bewildering variety and complexity of the many processes arising in the

implosion of an ICF target defy more conventional methods of analysis.

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Charged Particles in Hot Plasmas," Nucl. Fusion 17, 1225 (1977).

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218

COMPUTER SIMULATION

42. Laser Fusion Program Semiannual Report, July-December. 1973, Lawrence Livermore

Laboratory Report UCRL-50021-73-2 (1974), p. 93.

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74 (1975) p. 368.

44. Ref. 40, p. 289.

45. Ref. 19, p. 4-51.

46. Ref. 28. p. 4-29.

47. W. Schultz. in Methods in Computational Physics, Vol. 3 (New York. Academic, 1964), p. 1.

48. Laser Program Annual Report-1978, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-50021-

78 (1979), p. 3-61.

49. D. S. Kershaw, "The Incomplete Cholesky-Conjugate Gradient Method for the Iterative

Solution of Linear Systems." Lawrence Livermore Laboratory UCRL-78333 Rev 1 (1977).

50. M. L. Wilkins. "Calculation of Elastic Plastic Flow." Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report

UCRL-7322 Rev (1969).

51. J. J. Duderstadt and W. R. Martin. Transport Theory (New York. Wiley-Interscience, 1979).

52. T. Mehlhorn and J. J. Duderstadt, "Discrete Ordinates Solution of the Fokker-Planck

Equation," J. Comp. Phys. 38. 86 (1980).

53. F. Beranek and R. Conn, "Neutron Moderation in Incrtial Confinement Fusion Pellets and

Effects on Damage and Radioactive Inventory," Nucl. Tech. 47. 406 (1980).

54. K. D. Lathrop, "Discrete Ordinates Methods for the Numerical Solution of the Transport

Equation." React. Technol. 15. 107 (1972).

55. J. Fleck and J. Cummings. "An Implicit Monte Carlo Scheme for Calculating Time and

Frequency Dependent Nonlinear Radiation Transport." J. Comp. Phys. 8, 313 (1971)

56. G. B. Zimmerman, "Numerical Simulation of the High Density Approach to Laser Fusion,"

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-74811 (1973)

57. E. Corman, W. Loewe, and G. Cooper, "Multigroup Diffusion of Energetic Charged

Particles," Nucl. Fusion 15, 377 (1975).

58. D. Kershaw, "Differencing of the Diffusion Equation in LASNEX," Lawrence Livermore

Laboratory Report UCID-17424 (1977).

59. N. Krall and A. Trivelpiece, Principles of Plasma Physics (New York. McGraw-Hill. 1973), p.

287.

60. N. K. Winsor, "Velocity Space Methods for Fusion Reactor Plasmas." Nucl. Sci. Eng. 64. 33

(1977).

61. H. Brysk, "Reaction Production Transport in a Fusion Pellet." KMS Fusion Report KMSF-

U275 (1975)
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62. M. N. Rosenbluth, W. M. MacDonald, and D. L. Judd, "Fokker-Planck Equation for an

Inverse Square Force," Phys. Rev 107, 1 (1957)

63. A. Mirin, "Hybrid-II. A Two-Dimensional Multi-Species Fokker Planck Code," LawTence

Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-51615 Rev. 1 (1975).

Creative Commons Attribution / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#cc-by

64. W. Kruer, "Lectures on the Interaction of Laser Light with Plasmas," Scottish Summer

School, 1979.

65. G. B. Zimmerman and W. L. Kruer, "Numerical Simulation of Laser Initiated Fusion,"

Comments on Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, Vol. II, 51 (1975)

SEVEN

Driver Development I:

Lasers

In inertia! confinement fusion, intense laser or charged particle beams are used

to implode fuel pellets to densities and temperatures sufficient for efficient

thermonuclear burn. More precisely, the energy deposited by the driver beams

incident upon the target produces surface ablation that compresses the pellet

core to very high densities (pR> 1 g/cm2). The requirements on driver beam

intensities to achieve such conditions are severe and correspond to specific

energy deposition of several megajoules per gram of target ablation material.

Hence a premium is placed on developing ICF drivers capable of yielding the

required focused beam intensity (>1014 W/cm2) and energy densities (>20

MJ/g).

Pulsed lasers can be used to produce just such focused beam intensities.

Laser drivers can convert electrical (or chemical or gas dynamic) energy into

an intense beam of coherent light capable of being focused in space and time

to achieve the power intensity and energy densities required for ICF applica-

tions.

All present ICF laser drivers produce light in the infrared (although there

are techniques available to shift this light to frequencies in the visible part of

the spectrum). The most extensively used laser system for ICF applications has

been the neodymium-glass laser that emits light at a wavelength of 1.06 (im.

These solid state lasers are pumped by flashlamps (powered, in turn, by

capacitor banks). To date, these lasers have been restricted in energy to less

than 1000 J/beam and in efficiency (conversion of electrical energy into light

energy) of less than several tenths of a percent. Several laboratories in the

United States and abroad have large, multibeam Nd-glass lasers operating in

the 10-TW range.

To achieve the high efficiencies and pulse repetition rates required for ICF

applications, it will probably be necessary to use gas lasers. Of most interest to

219
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220 DRIVER DEVELOPMENT L LASERS

Table 7.1. Laser Requirements for ICF Drivers.

Energy

1 to 5 MJ

Pulse length

1 to 10 ns

Efficiency

>1%

Wavelength

0.2 to?/im

Repetition rate

1 to 10 Hz

date has been the carbon dioxide laser that emits light at a wavelength of 10.6

/im. Several large CO2 laser installations are now operating at the 1- to 10-TW

level. There has also been considerable interest in the iodine laser (at 1.315 /im)

and the hydrogen-fluorine chemical laser (at 2.7 /tm). However none of these

laser systems presently fulfills the requirements necessary for ICF applications

(see Table 7.1).

We begin this chapter by summarizing the essential physics of laser opera-

tion. We continue on to discuss the primary laser types used in ICF research

programs today (Nd, CO2, and I) and conclude with a discussion of advanced

laser development (including excimer and chemical lasers).

7.1. LASER PHYSICS

To introduce the basic concepts involved in laser operation.1"3 consider the

interaction of light with a very simple system: a single atom that can exist in

one of only two possible energy states, £, and E2. Incident light photons with

a frequency vn such that hvl2 = E2 —E\ can De absorbed by atoms in the

ground state £,. However, photons incident on atoms in the excited state E2

can stimulate the emission of a second photon of frequency v,2 which appears

in phase (in coherence) with the incident photon. If there are more atoms in

the excited state £2, then photons incident upon a medium containing such

atoms can stimulate a growing cascade of photons of frequency t>l2 via the

stimulated emission process. That is, the medium could be used to achieve

/ight amplification by stimulated emission of radiation; hence the acronym

"laser." This process is shown schematically in Figure 7.1.

Under normal circumstances there will be many more atoms in the lower

energy state (usually the ratio of population densities goes as the Boltzmann
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factor, exp[—(E2 — E\)/kT]). Hence to achieve the laser process, we must

somehow achieve a "population inversion" in which more atoms are in the

upper than lower state, so that an incident photon will stimulate the emission

of other photons rather than being absorbed. A variety of excitation mecha-

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nisms can be used, including irradiating the medium with intense light at

another frequency, using electrical discharges, or chemical reactions.

A key feature in laser operation involves the fact that the photons emitted in

the stimulated process appear in phase with one another. This is in sharp

contrast to the light emitted from conventional sources of intense light in

which the photons are not only distributed over a relatively broad spectrum.
LASER PHYSICS

221

*2

*"l2

- Absorption

*"12

A"l2

Spontaneous emission

A"l2

Stimulated emission

Figure 7.1. A schematic of the stimulated emission process.

Light amplification by

stimulated emission

but furthermore are incoherent in the sense that there is no correlation between

the phases of radiation emitted from two different points of the source. An

important theorem of classical optics states that it is impossible to devise an

optical system that could focus an incoherent beam of light to an intensity

higher than that characterizing the source from which the light originates. That

is, the incoherent radiation from an extended source of light cannot be imaged

with an increase in brightness.

This is in sharp contrast to the coherent beam of light emitted by a laser. It

is possible to concentrate or focus this beam in such a way as to increase the

light intensity or brightness to a level greater than that of the original source.

In fact, the coherence in many laser systems is sufficient to allow the beam to

be focussed down to spot sizes on the order of the wavelength of the light

(so-called diffraction limited). Furthermore, in sharp contrast with incoherent

light sources, the coherent light in a laser beam can be propagated large

distances without appreciable losses from geometric spreading or diffraction

effects.

Since laser action essentially involves the collective deexcitation of a number

of excited atoms or molecules contained in a resonant cavity, it should be

apparent that a study of the various excited states (or energy levels) available

to atoms and molecules is of central concern in the understanding of laser

operation. Hence we will begin our study of laser physics with a brief review of

several concepts from atomic and molecular spectroscopy.

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222

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT I: LASERS

7.1.1. ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR SPECTROSCOPY

It is a well-known consequence of quantum mechanics that atomic systems

(atoms, ions, molecules, nuclei) can only be found in certain time-independent

states, each of which corresponds to a definite value of energy. These discrete

states or energy levels can be characterized by a set of quantum numbers. It is

common in atomic physics for several states to be characterized by the same

energy level; these states are said to be degenerate, and the corresponding

number of such states is called the multiplicity of the level. The lowest energy

level available to an atomic system is known as its ground state, while all

higher levels are referred to as excited states.

An atomic system can change from one state to another, with the accompa-

nying emission or absorption of the energy difference between the two levels as

electromagnetic radiation or energy exchange via an atomic collision process.

Lasers that produce light at optical wavelengths are based on electronic

transitions in atomic systems. While the spectroscopy of one-electron atoms

such as hydrogen is relatively simple, that characterizing the many electron

atoms of most interest in laser applications can become quite complex. We

avoid a discussion of atomic spectroscopy and spectroscopic notation at this

point and refer the interested reader to several comprehensive references on

this subject.

Example: The first gas laser to be demonstrated experimentally (1961)

involved transition between various excited states in neutral neon (an "atomic"

laser). Helium gas was mixed with the neon to facilitate the achievement of a

population inversion using an electrical discharge in the gas. While many

lasing transitions have been observed, the three most important transitions in

the He-Ne laser are 3j2-2/>4(6328 A), 2s2^2p2(\.\5 /im), and 3j2-2/>4(3.39

ftm).

Literally thousands of lasing transitions have been established for a wide

range of atomic and ionic species. Indeed, it has occasionally been suggested

that any material can be made to lase—if one is sufficiently clever (and able to

invest enough money and effort).

The second class of lasers of interest as ICF drivers are molecular gas lasers

that are based on transitions in molecules such as carbon dioxide producing

light at infrared wavelengths. The energy level spectra of molecular gases are

considerably more complex than those of atomic gases (such as neon). In

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addition to the electronic energy levels characterizing atoms, a molecule can

also have energy levels arising from the vibrational and rotational motion of

the atoms in the molecule. Whereas the spacings of the electronic energy levels

for molecules are comparable to those for atoms, the vibrational and rotational
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levels add a "fine structure" whose level spacing is typically smaller by factors

of 20 and 500, respectively. A comparison of typical atomic versus molecular

spectra is shown in Figure 7.2.

 Scientific American.)
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Figure 7.2. A comparison of atomic versus molecular energy levels. (Courtesy of

Oxygen Carbon Oxygen

CO, molecule

Symmetric stretch mode

Bending mode

Asymmetric

stretch mode

0.3

0.25

0.2

S 0.15

01

0.05

<°°1> 7 tj—CXg=©

C02 ground state (000)

Figure 13. The vibrational degrees of freedom and the corresponding energy levels

for the CO2 molecule.

224
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LASER PHYSICS

225

Example: The most important molecular gas laser for ICF applications is

the carbon dioxide laser. CO2 is a linear, symmetric molecule possessing three

vibrational degrees of freedom as shown schematically in Figure 7.3. Associ-

ated with these vibrational modes are three quantum numbers, u,, u2, and d3

that represent the number of quanta in each mode. The description of a given

vibrational level is given by (u,, v2, u3). The vibrational levels of most interest

are shown in Figure 7.3. (The rotational levels have been omitted to keep the

energy level diagram as simple as possible.) Note that the 001 —100 transition

corresponding to 10.6-/im radiation is of most interest in CO2 laser applica-

tions.

7.1.2. THE INTERACTION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC

RADIATION WITH ATOMIC SYSTEMS

Stimulated and Spontaneous Emission. Let us begin by considering the

interaction of radiation with a single atom (or molecule) with two levels as

shown in Figure 7.1. If the atom is initially in the ground state £,, then it can

be excited into the upper state £2 by the absorption of a photon of energy

hv\2 = E2 — Ev Similarly if the atom is initially in the excited state £2, it can

spontaneously decay by emitting a photon of frequency vl2. We will denote the

transition probability per unit time (i.e., the transition rate) for such sponta-

neous emission of light as Alv

There is yet a second process for emission, however. An atom in an excited

state can be stimulated to emit a photon if one subjects it to electromagnetic

radiation of the same frequency as the energy level spacing. That is, there is a

probability that an incident photon of energy hvn will stimulate the emission

of yet another photon. These two photons emerge from the atom in phase. In

this sense, stimulated emission can lead to a coherent amplification of light.

This is in contrast to the spontaneous emission process in which the photons

are emitted randomly in direction and phase.

The transition rate for stimulated emission must be proportional to the

photon density or radiant energy density u,2 at frequency vn. Let us write the

corresponding transition rate as ul2B2v Then the total transition rate from £2

to £, is given by

^.=^2,+",2*2,

The coefficient B2i is closely related to a similar coefficient B\2 that appears in

the expression for the absorption transition rate

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More generally then, for two energy levels m and n we can write the

transition rates

Wm =u„Bm„
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226

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT I: LASERS

The rate coefficients /!a„, and Bam can be calculated in terms of the electric

dipole matrix elements for the atom or molecule. However, there are two very

useful relationships, known as the Einstein relations,

Kn nm 8m mn

nm i n m

where gn is the multiplicity of the energy level. (In a medium with index of

refraction tj the second relation is modified to

nm 3

Stimulated emission of radiation is the key phenomenon in lasers. If one can

prepare an "active" medium in which most of the atoms can be placed in an

excited state, then electromagnetic radiation passing through the medium

stimulates a cascade of photons, each in phase with one another. In this

manner coherent light can be amplified to very high intensities. Of course, the

first requirement is to develop a way to excite large numbers of atoms or

molecules into the appropriate excited states. We therefore turn our attention

to the various mechanisms available for preparing such an "inversion" of

excited state populations.

Population Inversion. In most substances the absorption of a beam of

incident radiation always dominates the stimulated emission process. To

illustrate this, consider a large number NQ of atoms in thermal equilibrium at a

temperature T. Then if £y is the energy of the jih state, the distribution of

atoms among the various states is given by the Boltzmann factor

-E,/kT

N=N -IJZ.

In particular, the populations of any two levels, say £, and £2, are related by

82 Si

Hence in thermal equilibrium, the relative population in the upper state will be

many times smaller than that of the lower state. If we were to irradiate such a

collection of atoms with light of frequency vn, then obviously absorption

would greatly overwhelm any stimulated emission, and light attenuation rather

than amplification would result.

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LASER PHYSICS

227

More quantitatively, let the incident light be of energy density un and

frequency vl2. Then

Hence the net loss in coherent incident beam photons (remembering that

spontaneous emission is incoherent) is given by

implying attenuation if NX>N2.

What we must obviously do is disturb the equilibrium distribution so that we

preferentially populate the upper state in such a way that N2>Nv Such a

population inversion will amplify light:

Such an amplification or "negative absorption" is the objective of laser design.

Excitation Mechanisms. How does one obtain such a population inversion?

Obviously not by trying to directly excite atoms from £, to E2 since this would

require absorption from the beam one wishes to amplify. Instead additional

levels must be introduced. The simplest scheme is a three-level laser that was

first exploited by the development of the ruby laser (see Figure 7.4). The idea is

to irradiate the lasing material (in this case, the chromium ions in ruby) with

flash lamps to excite them into the upper state 3. Since the light from flash

lamps is not monochromatic, only a small fraction of the incident photons will

be absorbed to excite the atoms. For this reason, one wants the upper level to

have as large a line width as possible, to cover a broad frequency range and

hence "catch" as many of the flash lamp photons as possible. The atoms in the

upper level 3 then decay very rapidly via fast radiationless transitions into the

intermediate level 2, which has a very narrow line width and a relatively long

lifetime for spontaneous emission. Hence by using sufficiently intense flash

rate of emission = ( A2, + u12^21)^2

rate of absorption = u,2B,2Ar,

rate of loss=( A/, — N2) u, 2 B2,

photon rate of gain = (N2 — A/,) u, 2 B

Stimulated

emission

Figure 7.4. A simple three-level laser.

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228

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT I: LASERS

lamp irradiation, one can prepare a population inversion in which the number

of atoms in 2 exceeds that in 1. The transition between 2 and 1 is then used as

the lasing transition for stimulated emission.

The three level laser is only one of a large variety of level schemes used to

excite atoms or molecules into suitable population inversions for light amplifi-

cation by stimulated emission of radiation. For example, it is easier to establish

a population inversion in a material that utilizes a transition to an energy level

above ground state, since lasing action can begin as soon as the population of

the upper lasing level exceeds that of the lower level rather than the much

larger population of the ground state. We will return to discuss such a

four-level laser scheme in more detail in the next section.

A variety of excitation mechanisms can be used. Most solid state lasers

achieve a population inversion using broad spectral band photon excitation

provided by flash lamps. Gas lasers utilize a combination of charged particle

collisions and energy transfer via resonant collision processes that occur in

electrical discharges in the lasing medium. Other excitation mechanisms includ-

ing chemical reactions and gas dynamic processes have also been used. These

will be discussed in detail in a later section.

It should be apparent that regardless of the specific mechanisms used to

excite atomic or molecular systems and achieve population inversions, the

relative widths of energy levels and their lifetimes against spontaneous emis-

sion play a very significant role in achieving laser light amplification. Hence

some discussion of spectral line broadening is of importance.

Spectral Line Broadening. Suppose we consider light of frequency v propa-

gating in a medium in which there is an excited state at an energy hvo above

the ground state. Then if v=v0 we would expect to find appreciable absorption

of the incident light. The attenuation of the light intensity would be described

by

I,(x) = I0e-k<'°)x

where k(v) is an absorption coefficient for light at frequency v. In our earlier

discussion of atomic energy levels, we implicitly assumed that the levels are of

vanishing width so that only light of the proper frequency v0 can be absorbed.

If this were true, k(v) would be nonzero only for v=v0. In fact, however, an

experimental measurement of k(v) would reveal that it has the shape as shown

in Figure 7.5. being peaked about v0. This corresponds to the fact that the
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excited state E2 has a finite width, hkv (measured at half-maximum). If we

recall the Heisenberg uncertainty relation, A£A/>A, then a finite width A£

implies a finite lifetime Ar to the excited state.

There are a number of physical processes responsible for such a broadening

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of the energy level. Of course, an isolated atom in an excited state will have a

finite lifetime against spontaneous decay. But this "natural" line width is

extremely small and can usually be ignored. The two major factors contribut-

ing to line broadening are the frequency variations resulting from the thermal
LASER PHYSICS

229

£2

Figure 7.5. Spectral line broadening.

motions of the atoms (Doppler broadening) that give rise to a Gaussian

spectral line shape, and a broadening resulting from the disruption of absorp-

tion or emission of radiation by atomic collisions (collision broadening) that

gives rise to a Lorentzian line shape. A comparison of these two different line

shapes is given in Figure 7.5.

7.1.3. THE THEORY OF LASER ACTION

Laser Gain. Suppose we consider a beam of light propagating through a

medium in which the atoms are assumed to have only two available energy

states, £, and £2. The atomic number densities characterizing the frequency

distribution (line shape) of each state will be denoted by N\(v) and N2(v),

respectively. Then the equation describing the beam intensity /„ at any point x

can be derived by balancing the change in beam intensity in a frequency

interval dv against the absorption and stimulated emission over a distance dx:

dx

dl,dv=hv[B2XN2(v)-BMv)]l—dv
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230 DRIVER DEVELOPMENT I: LASERS

If we identify the phase velocity of the light as u=c/ij we can rewrite this as

-J.^dr=^[BMr)-B2\N2(r)]dr

= k¥dv

We can identify the absorption by integrating over the level widths

fk,dv=^f-(BnN,-B2lN2)

where jV, and N2 are the total (frequency-integrated) number densities char-

acterizing each level. If we now use the Einstein relations

c3 ,

21 _ O L. 3 3 ^21

Hirnv tj

we can write

When the material is in thermal equilibrium, then we have seen that

o2

Hence we find

j k„dv = KN0

where k can then be identified as the integrated absorption cross section per

atom for the line of interest, while ap = ky/No is the absorption cross section per

atom.

When population inversion occurs such that

Si
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LASER PHYSICS

231

then the absorption coefficient k becomes negative, corresponding to an

exponential growth in intensity

/,(*)=V-*, a=-k.

We can calculate a, as before

fa,dr=K(f2N2-Ni)

If we define the relative population inversion n

then we find the gain coefficient can be written as

a„dv = KN0n

Threshold Conditions for Laser Oscillation. Consider now an aggregate of

atoms in which a population inversion has been achieved (i.e., n>0). Then a

beam of light of frequency v~vn will grow in this medium exponentially as

exp( a„x). Of course, in a laser oscillator, the beam must pass back and forth

through the active medium many times to be amplified to appreciable intensi-

ties. To do this one places the atomic "amplifiers" between two mirrors (one of

which is only partially reflecting to allow some of the laser light to escape from

the "optical cavity"). For our present analysis, suppose the mirrors have a

reflectivity r and the separation distance is L (see Figure 7.6). If we consider

only the parallel propagation of light, then upon each reflection, 1— r of the

incident light energy is lost. Hence one complete pass yields an amplification

of

Y- r 2e 2<*. t-=e « °.L " y)

where we have introduced the cavity loss factor, y = \nr. To achieve net

amplification, we require F> 1. Hence the threshold condition on the gain

coefficient a„ for laser amplification is

__y

Figure 7.6. A simple schematic of an optical cavity.

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212

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT L- LASERS

Since a, will only be greater than or equal to am for a narrow range of

frequencies, and since only modes with these frequencies will be amplified, the

resultant laser output will have a line width much narrower than the atomic

linewidth characterizing the lasing transition.

To proceed further, we must analyze the rate equations describing the

populations of the various states involved in the lasing transitions. To il-

lustrate, we will consider a four-level laser (the simplest model capable of

describing the laser types of interest in ICF applications). We can define

W—u,B— stimulated emission rate

A — spontaneous emission rate

S = radiationless transition rate

so that the rate equations for the state population densities characterizing the

four-level laser shown in Figure 7.7 can be written as

-j? = (W4l+A4l+S43)N4

^ = WnN2 - (W}2 + An )N3 + S4}N4

-df = WnNl-(Au+S2,)N2

#„=AT,+JV2

(More complex models can be analyzed by adding the rate equations char-

acterizing the additional levels involved in the model.) In such a laser, atoms

Excitation

Spontaneous

decay

©

Spontaneous and

stimulated emission

Spontaneous decay

©

Figure 7.7. A four-level laser.

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LASER PHYSICS

233

are excited into the broad band upper state 4 (by flashlamp photons or

electron impact). Most of the absorbed energy is transferred by fast, radiation-

less transitions into a sharp intermediate level 3 which serves as the upper

lasing level. Since the line width of this level is narrow, the lifetime for

spontaneous emission is long and the atoms tend to "hang up," accumulating

in level 3 until photon emission is triggered by a stimulated emission process.

The lasing transition then occurs between levels 3 and 2. Atoms then decay

from level 2 to ground state, level 1, via spontaneous decay or collision

processes. By using an excited state (level 2) as the terminal lasing level rather

than the ground state, the four-level laser can achieve lasing action (population

inversion) much earlier since level 2 will be relatively unpopulated (at least

compared to the ground state level 1). Most solid state lasers are of the

four-level type, including the neodymium laser. (An important exception is the

ruby laser which involves a three-level process in which the terminal lasing

level is the ground state.)

Although the analysis of the four-level laser rate equations is cumbersome,

just before the onset of laser action the populations of states 2 and 4 can be

neglected (to first approximation) so that a simpler two-level model applies

-^ = WMN-AnN3

To determine the appropriate threshold condition, we can examine the steady

state solution:

N1=W}±

N _ ZttvWT,

3 c3gT„

where T3=A3"2 is the lifetime against spontaneous emission of state 3, Tp is the

photon lifetime, and g is the maximum of the line width shape function. If we

identify the pump power required to achieve this condition as P— WuNxhv V,

then we find

p=—;

7.1.4. PUMPING MECHANISMS

A primary goal in the design of a laser is to achieve a sufficient population

inversion to overcome losses in the laser cavity and yield light amplification.

The general idea behind all pumping mechanisms is to convert low quality
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234

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT I: LASERS

energy stored in conventional forms (e.g., electric fields in a capacitor bank or

chemical fuels) into high quality energy stored in excited atomic or molecular

states that becomes available for extraction as laser light. The traditional

mechanisms for achieving such population inversions include:

1. Optical pumping. Flash lamp photon sources with a broad frequency

distribution can be used to achieve population inversions by using a three-

or four-level laser scheme in which an excited state with large line width is

used to "catch" a significant number of the flash lamp photons and then

transfer this excitation energy to the upper lasing level via radiationless

transitions. Such optical pumping is the primary mechanism used in lasers

with solid or liquid state materials. Optical pumping is of secondary

importance in gas lasers.

2. Direct excitation by charged particle collisions. If one maintains an electri-

cal discharge in a gaseous lasing medium, then inelastic collisions between

free electrons and atoms or ions can create excited states. Such excited

states can then transfer energy to the upper lasing levels by collisions. This

combination of electron excitation and collisional energy transfer is the

principal mechanism used in gas lasers such as the CO2 laser.

3. Excitation through resonant or near resonant energy transfer. The excita-

tion present in a particular species can be selectively transferred to a

particular state (or a narrow band of states) in another species by resonant

collisions in which the relative energy between the colliding atoms or

molecules is very close to the energy level spacing of their excited states.

4. Excitation by gas dynamical processes. Rapid heating or cooling of a

molecular gas can generate a population inversion (such as by expanding a

gas through a nozzle). Such excitation mechanisms are currently being

applied in high power continuous wave (cw) CO2 lasers.

5. Excitation by chemical reactions. It is well known that many chemical

reactions yield reaction products in excited states. Hence chemical reac-

tions can be used to create population inversions of molecular gases. In

practice, a rather considerable fraction of the available chemical reaction

energy can be coupled to the radiation field. Examples of such chemical

lasers include the HF and HC1 lasers.

Laser pumping mechanisms can be classified into two types: In pumping

schemes such as those based upon optical flash lamps or electrical discharges,
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one essentially begins with a statistical distribution (e.g., a Maxwell-Boltzmann

distribution) of states and relies on energy transfer mechanisms to select out

only those high energy states in the tail of the distribution that correspond to

the upper lasing levels. For example, in an electrical discharge, we start with a
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statistical distribution of mostly low energy electrons and then rely on resonant

energy transfer collisions to produce a nonthermal distribution in the radiating

atom or molecule. The trick is to tailor the electron distribution to pump the

desired state while avoiding losses into lower states. The combination of the
LASER PHYSICS

235

large number of low energy electrons and the much larger cross sections of

secondary processes such as electron impact ionization implies that the excited

state densities are usually low.

A second class of approaches begins with a narrow distribution of states

above the upper lasing level and then relies on energy transfer kinetics to

accomplish efficient energy down conversion. By pumping "from the top" one

can achieve very high energy densities in the lasing medium. Examples of this

approach include electron beam excitation and photolytic processes (in which

one lasing transition is used to selectively pump another). Most advanced laser

types such as the KrF laser fall into this class of pumping mechanisms, and we

consider it further in the last section of this chapter.

7.1.5. PULSED OPERATION

A laser consists essentially of a large number of excited atoms or molecules

that act as light "amplifiers" through the stimulated emission process. The

active medium of the laser is placed between two mirrors that form an optical

cavity. Because of the line width associated with the energy levels involved in

the lasing transition, a variety of electromagnetic modes of oscillation are

possible in the cavity. Because the length of a laser is typically 105 to 106

wavelengths, and the amplification occurs over a finite frequency range,

usually a number of laser modes will be amplified simultaneously.

One can characterize the ability of the laser to amplify a given mode by the

cavity quality factor

Q=—-2—

where E is the energy present in the amplified modes and Pd is the rate at

which the mode energy is dissipated in the cavity. The linewidth of the cavity is

then given by &v=v0/Q. As the laser oscillations build up, those modes falling

within the amplification line width with the highest Q will be preferentially

excited. The presence of the optical cavity (the mirrors) is essential to the

growth of the oscillations, since a given wave must pass back and forth through

the amplifying medium many times.

This feature can be used to pulse the laser output. If an electro-optical

shutter is placed in front of one of the mirrors, then oscillation growth is

inhibited while the shutter is closed. As the pumping continues, a larger and

larger population inversion will build up, since little stimulated emission

depletion occurs. If the shutter is suddenly opened, the oscillations build up

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very rapidly, leading to a laser pulse that dies out when the excited state

populations have been depleted. Such pulsing amounts to artificially suppress-

ing the Q of the cavity to allow large amounts of energy to be stored in the

population inversion and then releasing this energy as laser light by "Q-
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switching" the optical cavity. Pulse widths as short as 2 to 50 ns can be

achieved in this manner.

236

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT I: LASERS

Gas lasers such as the CO2 laser can also be operated in a pulsed mode, but

^-switching is unnecessary if one instead pulses the pumping electrical dis-

charge ("gain switching") and uses an atmospheric (or higher) pressure gas in

the laser. If the discharge is pulsed in a time less than 1 fis, the laser gain will

reach its maximum near the end of the discharge (see Figure 7.8). But it will

take some time for the dominant mode of the optical cavity to build up to a

power sufficient to deplete the excited levels (typically about 40 round trips in

the cavity corresponding to about 300 ns). Hence the gain (i.e., the population

inversion) will reach a large value before the laser field becomes sufficiently

strong to rapidly depopulate the upper lasing level—without the necessity for

(^-switching. This gain switching technique is capable of generating pulses of

widths 10 to 300 ns.

Even shorter pulses can be generated by mode-locking the laser. In this

technique, a nonlinear optical element (such as a bleachable dye) is used to

lock into phase a large number of modes that arise in a laser pumped well

above the threshold condition in order to produce a series of sharp pulses. One

of these pulses can then be switched out and amplified to achieve sub-

nanosecond pulse widths. Mode-locking requires that the bandwidth of the

oscillator cavity be large enough so that a number of modes can be simulta-

neously amplified. While this condition is easily achieved in solid state lasers

(such as the Nd laser), most gas lasers are characterized by very narrow

bandwidth (e.g., 3 to 4 GHz in atmospheric pressure COz). However by going

to higher pressures, collisional broading will cause the lines of the rotational

spectrum to broaden and overlap, giving an amplification band considerably

larger (in the case of CO2, a bandwidth of 103 GHz can be achieved). This

large bandwidth allows many modes to be amplified and become available for

mode-locking. Insertion of a bleachable dye into the cavity will then induce the

self-locking of the modes into a train of short pulses. One of these pulses can

then be switched out. One such pulse switching technique involves irradiating a

germanium slab in the optical path with a ruby laser. The germanium is

normally transparent to the 10.6-/im CO2 light, but it becomes reflecting when

a cutoff density of charge carriers is optically induced by the incident ruby

laser light.

Gain

MW
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Figure 7.8. Gain switching in a pulsed gas laser.

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PRESENT LASER TYPES

237

7.1.6. LASER SYSTEMS

Thus far we have confined our attention to the essential features of a laser

oscillator, that is, an active medium in an optical cavity that can be induced to

emit pulses of coherent light. In high-powered laser systems, such oscillators

are used to produce low-power pulses of the required pulse widths and shapes.

These pulses are then passed through a train of laser amplifier stages to bring

the power level of the pulse to that required for ICF driver applications. Most

of the complexity and expense of a high-powered laser system is due to the

power amplifiers, their power supply, and the laser beam transport system.

The beam transport system includes not only the light beam transmission

channels, but also the mirrors, lenses, and windows used to direct the beams

and the mounting structures and systems used to align the beams. In most high

power laser systems, mirrors are used instead of lenses to focus the beam. The

design of suitable windows becomes important in gas laser systems since there

must be some interface between the laser gas and the ambient air. Windows are

also important in the target chamber, since this usually must be maintained at

low pressure.

Another important aspect of high-powered laser systems is the pulsed power

system used to drive the laser amplifiers. This system must be capable of

storing energy produced by conventional sources (e.g., electrical generators)

and then providing this energy in the form of short high-voltage pulses. At

present, most high-powered laser systems use a bank of storage capacitors to

provide pulsed power. These are typically rated at 120 kV, with 10-kJ energy

storage per capacitor. Typical capacitor lifetimes are 105 shots, with a pulse

repetition rate of up to 1 Hz. It should be noted that both the present lifetime

and repetition rate fall considerably short of the goals proposed for reactor

applications. However, low efficiency and low repetition rate laser systems are

capable of elucidating the physics requirements of ICF.

7.2. PRESENT LASER TYPES

7.2.1. NEODYMIUM LASERS

The most common high-powered laser used in present ICF research is the

neodymium laser. Such lasers are based on a solid state lasing material

consisting of neodymium ions embedded in a matrix of yttrium aluminum

garnet (Y3A15O12 or YAG) crystal or glass.4 Neodymium lasers operate

essentrally as the four-level scheme described in Section 7.1.3. Such lasers

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possess a broad absorption band in the upper level 4 so that optical (flash

lamp) pumping is possible. The terminal laser level (level 2) is normally

sparsely occupied and drains rapidly to the ground state (level 1). Finally,

radiationless processes rapidly transfer atoms from the upper excited level 4 to
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the upper lasing level 3. The interaction with the crystal or glass matrix host

splits the degeneracy of the multiple levels of the active Nd3+ ion to produce
238

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT!: LASERS

10 h-

>

LU 5

Figure 7.9. The lasing transitions in a neo-

dymium laser.

the broad absorption band (level 4) and facilitate the transition from level 4 to

level 3. The lasing transitions of most interest are shown in Figure 7.9.

In the past, high-powered Nd laser system oscillators were usually fabricated

from Nd-YAG crystal while the power amplifiers were Nd-glass. Newer

systems use phosphate glass amplifiers and Nd-YLF in the oscillator to match

wavelengths. The mode-locked Nd-YAG oscillator can produce pulse widths

10"

a io-«

£

1r

Scienrific feasibility

- Scientific breakeven

Significant thermonuclear

burn (high density'

-i i

<tron X* J 1 " *1

ctrum

Argul IV

" 10 TW)

Cyclops

0.6-1.0 TWI

Janus II

10 4 TWI

Janus I

10 2 TWI

0 Accomplishments

ii

Shiva Nova
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1200-300 TWI

74

75

76
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77

78 79 80

Calendar year

81

82

83

Figure 7.10. Progress in neodymium laser development at the Lawrence Livennore

Laboratory.
PRESENT LASER TYPES

239

Figure 7.11. The amplifier gallery in the Shiva laser at the Lawrence Livermore

Laboratory. (Courtesy of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.)

of 25 to 1000 ps. Advanced Nd-glass amplifier designs such as the Nova

system will utilize phosphate glasses which exhibit superior optical and energy

storage properties to silicate glasses.

Glass damage considerations limit the energies produced in Nd-glass lasers

to less than 3 J/cm2. Hence high-powered systems designed for ICF driver

applications utilize multiple beams. Several laboratories in the United States

and abroad have Nd laser systems operating or under development that

approach tens of TW in power level. The timetable for reaching breakeven at

the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory along with the laser systems that will

accomplish this are shown in Figure 7.10. Amplifiers mounted on the space

frame of the Shiva laser system are pictured in Figure 7.11. The Nova system,
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240

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT L LASERS

Figure 7.12. An artist,s schematic of the Nova laser system under development at the

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. (Courtesy of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.)

presently under development at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, is de-

signed to achieve a power level of 200 to 400 TW (See Figure 7.12).

However since Nd lasers must be pumped using flashlamp sources, they are

intrinsically very inefficient (less than 0.2%). Furthermore, the pulse repetition

rate is very low (from several minutes to several hours between shots). Hence

the Nd laser is not a likely candidate for an ICF reactor application. Neverthe-

less, the advanced state of Nd laser development has led to the extensive use of

this driver type in inertial confinement fusion research.

7.2.2. CO2 LASERS

To achieve the high efficiencies and pulse repetition rates required by reactor

applications, it will probably be necessary to use gas lasers. Of primary interest

in present research is the CO2 gas laser that produces light at 10.6 /im

wavelength.5"7

The spectroscopy of gas atoms and molecules is much simpler than that of

atoms bound in solids, since the former can interact only via collisions. For

this reason there are no excited states with broad widths—that is, no broad

absorption bands such as one finds in neodymium lasers that are capable of

absorbing polychromatic photons. Hence excitation of gas lasers by means of

flash lamps is very difficult. Instead one must rely on excitation by electron

impact and transfer of excitation by resonant atomic collisions.

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PRESENT LASER TYPES

241

As atoms are excited into higher energy states and then cascade down to

lower energy levels by nonradiative (collisional) transitions, a nonequilibrium

situation will arise in which states of longer lifetimes accumulate a larger

number of atoms. Such an accumulation is particularly prevalent for those

states for which radiative transitions are forbidden by selection rules (so-called

"metastable" states). These metastable states play a key role in influencing the

competition between excitation and decay rates of the energy levels necessary

for successful population inversion.

The most convenient excitation mechanism is that due to inelastic electron

atom collisions in an electrical discharge. In such a discharge, electrons are

accelerated and suffer inelastic collisions with atoms, thereby exciting them to

higher energy states. Such electron collisions can be used to directly achieve a

population inversion, but more frequently the electron excitation is redistrib-

uted by means of resonant atomic or molecular collisions. Frequently a second

gas with energy levels near to those of the lasing gas is introduced into the

discharge to facilitate this energy transfer. This is not essential though, as the

Helios laser has no N2 to suppress parasitic oscillations.

The COz laser utilizes transitions between different vibrational-rotational

levels in the CO2 molecule (see Figure 7.13). The general idea is to use electron

inelastic collisions to excite vibrational states of CO2 and N2 and then rely on

the long lifetime of the CO2 (001) state and the vibrational excitation exchange

occurring in collisions between N2 and CO2 to populate the CO2 (001) state,

thereby creating a population inversion with the CO2 (100) and CO2 (020)

V=1

C02 GROUND STATE (000) N2 GROUND

STATE (V=0)

Figure 7.13. The energy levels involved in the CO, laser.

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242

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT L LASERS

states. Lasing action will then occur either from CO, (001) to CO2 (100) (at

10.6 fim) or from CO2 (001) to COz (020) (at 9.6 /im). Of course, the

maintenance of the population inversion relies upon the ability of the lower

lasing states to rapidly depopulate in vibrational-translational collisions with

either CO, (000) or He atoms. In general, the ability of these states to

depopulate will diminish as the temperature of the lasing gas rises. Usually,

after about a 300°C temperature rise, the population inversion can no longer

be maintained, and the lasing action ceases (a "temperature bottleneck").

Low-powered CO2 lasers are usually designed with the gas mixture placed

between two electrodes that produce and sustain an electrical discharge in the

gas. The applied electric field is used both to produce the free electrons in the

discharge and to accelerate these electrons to energies sufficient to excite

the molecular states of the gas. However, using the discharge to perform this

dual role limits the control over the electron energy distribution and hence the

pumping efficiency.

In high-powered CO2 lasers one separates the ionization and electron

acceleration functions by using a high energy electron beam (£-beam) to

produce the ionization and then uses an applied drift or "sustainer" field to

pump the inelastic collisions. In such £-beam lasers, an incident electron beam

Figure 7.14. The Helios eight-beam CO2 la^cr system at Los Alamos Scientific

laboratory. (Courtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory.)

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PRESENT LASER TYPES

243

COLLIMATING MIRROR

Figure 7.15. A schematic of the amplifier module for the Antares laser system under

development at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. (Courtesy of Los Alamos

National Laboratory.)

(100 to 300 keV) is used to ionize the laser gas mixture that may be operated at

pressures as high as 10 atm. This incident or primary electron beam ionizes the

gas mixture, producing a secondary electron density of roughly 1013 cm-3.

This electron density is primarily limited by electron-ion recombination. The

applied field then produces a current density that leads to power dissipation

through electron-molecule inelastic collisions.

The Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory has demonstrated single pulse opera-

tion at the 10-kJ, 10-TW level with the eight-beam Helios laser system shown

in Figure 7.14. The Antares laser system scheduled for completion in 1984 will

yield 40 kJ/40 TW (See Figure 7.15). This laser design is modular and should

permit scaling to the energies and power levels required for reactor applica-

tions. Furthermore, while present CO2 laser systems designed for ICF applica-

tions operate at single pulse efficiencies of 1.5%, there is good reason to expect

that this could be improved to 8 to 10% in advanced designs. Since the COz

laser can utilize pulse power supplies in the few microsecond range, it does not

appear necessary to develop special pulse-forming lines or low inductance

pulse charged switches as required by other advanced laser concepts. There

also appears to be no fundamental reason why CO2 lasers could not be

operated at the pulse repetition rates (1 to several Hz) envisioned for most ICF

reactor designs.
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244

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT I: LASERS

Rather, the primary difficulty faced by the CO2 laser involves the laser-

beam/target plasma interaction at 10.6 /im. We have noted that laser beam

energy deposition at long wavelengths leads to energetic electrons that can

preheat the fuel, thereby limiting final fuel compression and fusion gain.

7.2.3. THE IODINE LASER

A third laser type under active development and application in ICF experi-

ments is the iodine laser.8 In this laser photochemical or direct chemical

pumping is used to produce excited iodine atoms that lase at a wavelength of

1.315 /tm. More precisely, the iodine laser operates on a transition from the

2P)/2 state to the ground state 2P3/2. This is a forbidden (metastable) transition

with a lifetime of the excited level of about 170 ms.

In photochemical iodine lasers,9 perfluoroalkyliodide gases (C3F7I) are used

as the parent gas. Upon irradiation with ultraviolet light, these gases produce

excited iodine atoms

RI + Af-R + l(2P1/2)

CF3I and C2F5I are also used. The photon source is usually a xenon flashlamp.

By operating at atmospheric pressure or higher, sufficient line width is achieved

to allow mode locking and pulse shortening to 1 ns or shorter. The Max Planck

Institute in Garching has achieved peak powers of 1 TW in a 280-ps pulse in

the Asterix III iodine laser.

An alternative approach is to use a chemical reaction of chlorine, hydrogen

peroxide and sodium hydroxide to produce excited O2. Molecular iodine can

then be injected into the excited oxygen mixture and dissociated, thereby

producing excited iodine atoms. The chemically pumped iodine laser would

eliminate the need for a pulsed power supply, since in principle at least, the

pumping energy could be delivered by a continuous flow of chemicals into the

laser amplifier cell. Since this laser would operate at a rather low gain,

the beam from an optically pumped iodine laser oscillator would be passed

through a chemically pumped iodine amplifier many times to achieve sufficient

power levels for ICF applications. The overall laser efficiency of a chemically

pumped iodine laser, including energy for chemical handling and processing,

could be as great as 6%.

73. ADVANCED LASER DEVELOPMENT

ICF driver applications place difficult requirements on laser system develop-

ment. Not only must these systems be capable of high energy (1 to 3 MJ) and
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power (200 to 500 TW) levels, but they must also operate at efficiencies of 5%

or better and pulse repetition rates of several hertz. Furthermore, the laser

wavelength must be sufficiently short to allow strong coupling with the target

while avoiding the production of suprathermal electrons that could preheat the
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ADVANCED LASER DEVELOPMENT

245

fuel. None of the laser systems presently in use in ICF research (i.e., neodymium

glass, carbon dioxide, and iodine) are close to achieving these goals. Hence

some attention has been given to the development of advanced laser systems

that appear to offer more potential as ICF drivers.

Advanced laser driver candidates10 rely on mechanisms that "pump from the

top" such as electron beams, photolytic processes, or the conversion of

chemical bond energy. In this section we will briefly review several of the more

interesting concepts proposed for advanced ICF drivers.

7.3.1. EXCIMER LASERS

One of the most attractive advanced laser concepts is the excimer laser.11,12 In

this laser, a bound molecular state is formed from the association of a ground

state atom and an excited state of the same or a similar atom (the "excimer").

This state can then radiate to the unbound ground state formed from the

repulsive interaction of the two closed shell atoms.

Of particular interest are excimers formed from rare gases since they are

capable of converting the energy from high energy electron beams to specific

narrow bands of excited electronic states and then transferring this energy to

acceptors. The rare gas excitation process can be outlined as follows:

1. A high energy electron beam is first used to ionize and excite the rare

gas atoms (with about 75% of the excited states appearing as ions).

2. Molecular ions are then formed by three-body reactions

R++2R-R2+ + R

3. Dissociative recombination of the molecular ion then occurs

R2++e-R** + R

4. The highly excited states of the rare gas atom R** are then collisionally

deactivated into the lowest metastable state R* of the rare gas atom.

5. Finally, three-body reactions produce the excited excimers R*

R* + 2R-RJ + R

These excimers can now radiate.

Theoretical calculations and experiments suggest that approximately 50% of

the initial electron beam energy deposited in the gas appears in the excited

metastable and excimer species. At pressures of one atmosphere this reaction

sequence occurs very rapidly, within 10 to 100 ns.

There are four classes of lasers presently being studied as potential ICF

advanced drivers. These are listed in Table 7.2. These advanced laser types can
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be further distinguished by the time scale of their population inversion. In

photolytic and rare earth lasers, the energy storing medium in which the
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246 DRIVER DEVELOPMENT I: LASERS

Table 7.2. Advanced Laser Concepts

Type

Pumping Mechanism

Wavelength (/im)

Efficiency %

Group VI atomic

Optical

0.48

1 to 4

Metal vapor excimers

Discharge

0.33 to 0.47

10 to 15

HF chemical

£-beam

2.6 to 3.4

5 to 10

Rare gas halide

Discharge

0.25 to 0.31

5 to 10

Resonantly excited

Optical

0.28 to 0.45

2 to 6

solid state

Optically pumped storage

Optical

0.27 to 0.34

1 to 7

Source. After Stark, Ref. 7.

population inversion occurs is stable for long periods of time in excess of

several microseconds. Such lasers store energy for relatively long periods of

time compared to energy extraction (lasing) times. Hence these lasers can be

pumped for long times, compared to the storage time. However, their effective-

ness is limited since the pump species (photons or electrons) can easily
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deactivate the excited electronic states.

The rare earth and monohalide excimer lasers such as the KjF laser are

characterized by highly radiating media with a population inversion decay time

of the order of nanoseconds. In order to pump these media for times longer
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than the required pulse length (10 ns), one must use sophisticated optical

extraction techniques (e.g., angular multiplexing) or optical pulse compression

techniques.

Photolytic Group VI Lasers. Photolytic lasers utilize an excimer laser such

as Xe^ to pump atomic transitions in Group VI elements such as O, S, or Se.

For example, one scheme would be to use a xenon excimer pump laser to

photolyze OCSe fuel. A diagram of this process is shown in Figure 7.16. These

storage lasers utilize the auroral ('S —'D) or transauroral ('S-»3P) transitions

in O, S, or Se:

S('S-'D) 773 nm

S('S-3P) 459 nm

Se('S-'D) 777 nm

Se('S-3P) 489 nm

The particular photolytic reactions that produce the population inversions are

of the form

OCS + y-S('S) + CO (140nm<y<160nm)

OCSe + Y-Se('S) + CO (160 nm<y< 180 nm)

A schematic of a xenon excimer pumped OCSe laser is shown in Figure 7.17.

A

Option

for

discharge

1i

2|

Excimer

Power

11

E-beam

cond.

system

0.1 to 10

(Fluorescence

or laser

emission)

Flow

Interface

Optical

medium

»?. Extraction

(0.1 to 1 ns)

Flow

Optical

interface

Figure 7.16. A schematic diagram of the operation of a photolytic excimer laser.

To To

fluorescer To laser fluorescer

flow gas flow

conditioning conditioning conditioning

He He

only only

End view

Figure 7.17. A possible design for a xenon excimer pumped O-C-Se laser. (Courtesy
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of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.)

247
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248

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT 1: LASERS

Metal Vapor Excimer Lasers. These systems are storage lasers operating on

bound-free transitions of excimers formed from lowest metastable states of

metal atoms. The principal candidates under investigation are CdHg and Hg2

lasers. Excitation is provided by an electron beam sustained discharge. Such

discharges can efficiently pump metastable atomic states (with possible ef-

ficiencies in excess of 10%). In the CdHg laser, the excimer is formed by Cd

(3 P) metastable and Hg ground states. The excimer radiates at 470 nm. In the

Hg2 laser, a homonuclear excimer is formed by Hg (3P) metastable and Hg

ground state atoms. This excimer radiates at 335 nm.

Rare Gas Halide Lasers. These are high gain excimer lasers whose upper

levels are ion pair states. Examples include ArF (193 nm), KrF (249 nm), XeCl

(306 nm), and XeF (353 nm). These lasers are excited by electron beams or

electron beam sustained discharges. Since they are highly radiating (short

storage times), they must be accompanied by pulse compression or multiplex-

ing to achieve the desired laser pulse lengths.

One can also use rare gas halide lasers to resonantly pump rare earth ions in

a solid matrix. The long storage times of the excited ions then permit the rare

gas halide pump times to be longer than several microseconds.

7.3.2. THE KrF LASER

Excimer lasers offer the potential of relatively high efficiency and submicron

wavelengths to facilitate laser target interaction. Most interest has been in the

direct use of an electron-beam excited KrF driver. Since the lasing state has

such a short lifetime, KrF cannot be used directly as a storage medium.

Therefore the laser power is proportional to the £-beam power, and very large

pulse compression is required to produce the high power levels required for

ICF applications.

More specifically, KrF amplifies most efficiently pulses of 100 to 200 ns,

about 10 to 100 times the pulsewidth considered optimum for driving a target

implosion. One scheme for pulse compression utilizes multiple beams passed

sequentially through the lasing medium, temporally delayed by different beam

paths and appropriate optics, and finally superimposed on the target13. A

compression factor of 100 would require 100 beams with path length dif-

ferences of 100 m.

An alternative method of pulse compression would pass the long pulse from

a KrF amplifier into a Raman-active medium through which is passed a

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back-traveling short pulse coupled to the KrF beam by a Raman transition.

The short pulse would then be amplified (being pumped by the incident KrF

beam). While this process appears capable of high efficiency (60%). it appears

limited to a compression factor of about 20 by the onset of secondary

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processes which deplete the compressed pulse. However additional compres-

sion could then be achieved by geometrical methods (described in the previous

paragraph).
ADVANCED LASER DEVELOPMENT

249

Although there are many questions concerning the development of high

power, short pulse length KrF systems, the attractive laser-target interaction

characteristics at the 0.25-/im wavelength produced by this laser type have

provided a strong stimulus to proceed with its development. Experiments are

being performed using frequency-multiplied Nd light to simulate the KrF

wavelength and examine the laser-target interaction phenomena that would be

present with this laser driver.

7.3.3. THE HF LASER

The hydrogen fluorine laser has been studied for a number of years by the

Department of Defense. However, we consider it as an advanced laser in the

context of ICF because it has not yet been utilized in ICF target experiments.

The HF laser is a chemical laser with a broad band of wavelengths between

2.6 and 3.4 /im.15 This broad band width characteristic could be very beneficial

to laser plasma coupling efficiency, since it might suppress many of the

processes that lead to the generation of hot electrons and stimulated back-

scattering of the light. This is due in part to the fact that there is no well

defined critical density when multiple wavelengths are used. The HF laser uses

the chemical reactions

F + H2-HF(u«3) + H

H + F2-HF(t;<6) + F

HF( v, J) - HF( v - 1, J + 1) + hv.

The lasing energy is supplied by chemical reactions, therefore the electrical

efficiency of the HF laser can be over 100%. However, the HF must be

reprocessed back into H2 and F2 before it can be used again. When this

chemical reprocessing is included in the efficiency we find an overall efficiency

of 5%. The HF laser amplifier has very high gain and is not a storage medium.

Once the gas is excited by electron beam discharge the energy must be

extracted or it will be lost. This places severe constraints on the pulsed power

equipment that excites the amplifier for it must have very short pulses, on the

order of those used in electron or ion beam fusion. The actual laser pulse can

be shorted by multiplexing the amplifiers. This means that many shorter pulses

traverse the amplifier, one after another, at slightly different angles. In this

way, energy is being continuously extracted over 50 ns without resorting to one

long laser pulse.

The very high gain of the amplifiers implies that they can be quite compact.
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It seems possible to build amplifiers one meter in length capable of producing

100-kJ laser pulses.

All of these features make the HF laser a good candidate for laser fusion

applications.
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250

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT I: LASERS

7.3.4. SOME FINAL REMARKS

To achieve the ICF target gains necessary for practical applications will require

a major advance in laser driver development. It is apparent that none of the

laser types presently being used in ICF research approaches the requirements

of driver energy and power, efficiency, pulse repetition rate, and driver beam

target coupling. Indeed, there is a very real concern that it may be impossible

to achieve these goals with these laser systems (i.e.. the neodymium glass,

carbon dioxide, and iodine lasers).

For that reason there has been a major effort at developing advanced laser

systems that exhibit more potential as fusion drivers. Such systems attempt to

achieve the high energy storage densities necessary for ICF driver amplifiers by

using electron-beam, photolytic, or chemical reaction pumping and to produce

beams at the submicron wavelengths felt to be necessary for adequate beam-

target coupling using electronic transitions or frequency multiplication of

vibrational transitions in molecular lasers. Of most interest has been the class

of excimer lasers such as the KrF laser that operate in the 0.2- to 0.4-um

wavelength range and appear to be capable of high energy/power levels and

reasonable efficiencies.

The HF laser with its broad bandwidth may also show better laser-plasma

coupling. It has the potential for ~5% efficiency and very compact amplifier

design that is attractive for reactor applications. The free electron laser also

presents a potential for meeting many of the stringent requirements for ICF

drivers. However these advanced laser concepts will require a major develop-

ment effort over the next several years to determine whether they can achieve

their potential as ICF drivers.

In the meantime, ICF target experiments will continue with existing laser

types. In particular, the Nd-glass laser will continue to be the mainstay of ICF

target interaction and implosion research, although more attention may be

directed at frequency-multiplying the 1.06-jum light to simulate advanced laser

concepts such as the KrF laser. The CO2 and I laser development programs

will also continue, in the hopes that further target interaction experiments at

long wavelength will reveal methods for redesigning ICF targets to avoid the

interaction phenomena such as suprathermal electron production that plague

these laser drivers.

REFERENCES
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1. B. A. Lcngyel. Lasers, 2nd ed. (New York, Wiley-Interscience. 1971).

2. M. Sargent, M. O. Scully, W. E. Lamb. Laser Physics (Reading. Mass., Addision-Weslev.

1974).

3. Lasers and Light, Readings from Scientific American (San Francisco, W. H. Freeman and
Creative Commons Attribution / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#cc-by

Company, 1969).

4. Lawrence Livermore Laboratories Laser Fusion Annual Reports.

5. C. K. N. Patel, "High Power Carbon Dioxide Lasers." Sci. Am. 219, 22 (August. 1968).

6. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Laser Fusion Annual Reports.

REFERENCES

251

7. E. E. Stark. Jr., "Lasers and Power Systems for Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactors," Los

Alamos Scientific Laboratory Report LA-UR-78-1350 (1978).

8. K. Hohla, "The Iodine Laser: A High Power Gas Laser," in Third Workshop on Laser

Interaction and Related Plasma Phenomena, Vol 3A (New York, Plenum, 1974), p. 133.

9. "Purely Chemical 1.3/im Iodine Laser Emerges as Fusion-Driver Candidate," Laser Focus 15,

24 (June, 1979)

10. K. A. Brueckner, An Assessment of Drivers and Reactors for Inertial Confinement Fusion,

K. A. Brueckner Associates, prepared for the Electric Power Research Institute, EPRI-AP-1371

(1980).

11. P. Hoff, "Laser Fusion Advanced Laser Program," Lectures presented at the AUA-ANL

Faculty Workshop on Inertial Confinement Fusion, Argonne National Laboratory, 1978.

12. C. K. Rhodes, Ed., Excimer Lasers, Topics in Applied Physics. Vol. 30 (Berlin, Springer-Verlag,

1979).

13. R. M. Hill, D. L. Huestis, and C. K. Rhodes, "Review of High Energy Visible and UV

Lasers," Laser Induced Fusion and X-ray Laser Studies, (Reading Mass, Addison-Wesley,

1976).

14. "Inertial Confinement Fusion-An LF Meeting Review." Laser Focus 16, 58 (February, 1980).

15. G. Cooper. "HF Laser Design," in SOLASE-H, A Laser Fusion Hybrid Study, Univ. of

Wisconsin Fusion Engineering Program Report UWFDM-270, May 1979.

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EIGHT

Driver Development II:

Particle Beams

Present estimates of inertial confinement fusion driver requirements tend to

cluster in energy between 1 and 10 MJ and in power from 100 to 1000 TW.

Laser drivers are particularly well suited to the task of delivering very high

power intensities in short pulses focused on small targets. Unfortunately,

however, the task of building laser drivers capable of producing the necessary

pulse energies has proven extremely costly. There is a very real concern that

the costs of scaling laser pulse energies to the levels of 1 to 10 MJ projected for

high gain ICF targets may well eliminate laser drivers as we know them today

as a suitable option for reactor applications. In a sense, lasers are power rich

and energy poor devices. This feature arises from the low efficiency of most

pumping schemes used to convert electrical energy into light energy. Most

advanced laser driver designs project efficiencies of the order of 1 to 5%.

The primary source of the inefficiency in laser drivers can be attributed to

the laser power amplifiers, rather than the pulsed electrical power systems used

to pump the amplifiers. In fact, the efficiency of the pulsed power systems used

to excite laser amplifiers is quite high, typically ranging from 80% to 90%. This

very high efficiency of pulsed electrical power sources leads one to seek an

alternative to the laser for an ICF driver. That is, we seek an alternative type of

driver that could eliminate the intermediate (and inefficient) stage of convert-

ing the electrical energy produced in a pulsed power source into light to be

focused onto an ICF target.

Charged particle beams provide us with a means to couple the energy of

pulsed electrical power sources more directly into the ICF target. That is, the

electrical energy produced in a pulsed power source can be efficiently con-

verted into charged particle energy by accelerating electrons or ions across a

252
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DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

253

potential difference. These charged particle beams can then be focused on the

ICF target.1 24

Pulsed power accelerators have been used for many years as intense sources

of X-rays. In these accelerators, a capacitor bank is used to store energy at high

voltage. The capacitors are then discharged through switches into an insulated

pulse-forming line to produce a short pulse of electromagnetic power. This

power is propagated through a transmission line to a diode to produce an

intense electron beam between a dense plasma that forms on the metal surface

of the cathode and the anode. If the anode is formed from a thin foil, the

relativistic electrons striking the metal foil anode produce copious quantities of

hard bremsstrahlung radiation. Such pulsed power E-beam accelerators have

been developed as intense X-ray sources at a number of laboratories, includ-

ing Sandia Laboratory, Physics International, Maxwell Laboratories, Harry

Diamond Research Laboratories, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the Air

Force Weapons Laboratory.

In recent years, Sandia Laboratory (Albuquerque) has applied this pulsed

power diode accelerator technology to the development of ICF drivers. In

particular, in devices such as Proto I and Proto II, intense electron beams have

been produced and focused onto ICF targets. More recently pulsed power

diode accelerators such as the Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator, PBFA-I, and

a follow-on, PBFA-II, have been designed primarily for use as ICF drivers.

At the Naval Research Laboratory pioneering research in diode physics has

led to the first production of intense ion beams. These beams have been

focused into plasma channels and propagated at high current densities for over

a meter in length. This work is fundamental to the eventual application of light

ion beam drivers to high gain targets. Important studies of ion beam produc-

tion have also been underway for many years at Cornell University.

Pulsed power diode accelerators at Sandia have also been modified to

accelerate light ions (hydrogen through carbon) as well as electrons. As we

noted in Chapter 5, light ions present several significant advantages over

electron beams as ICF drivers. For example, ion beams couple energy into the

target far more effectively than either laser or electron beams. Ion beams are

also easier to propagate from a standoff diode to the target. Conversion from

electron to light ion beams has required only minor modification of machines

originally designed as electron beam accelerators.

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Interest in ion beam drivers has spread to heavy ion accelerators based upon

the technology developed for high energy physics research. Heavy ions (xenon

through uranium) can be accelerated in bunches to 1 to 10-GeV energies in

multiple RF (radio-frequency) cavities and accumulated in charged particle

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storage rings. Once sufficient particle densities have been accumulated, the

beams can be "kicked out" of the storage rings and focussed by magnetic fields

onto the ICF target. Once again the potential conversion efficiency of electrical

energy to beam energy is very high in such devices. Furthermore, we noted in

Chapter 5 that heavy ion beams also exhibit favorable target interaction
254

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

features. Heavy ion accelerators have the added advantage that high repetition

rates are easily obtained.

In this chapter we discuss each of these two quite different approaches to

particle beam acceleration. We begin our discussion with pulsed power acceler-

ators, since this technology is already not only highly developed, but is actively

being applied to ICF studies in large devices such as the Particle Beam Fusion

Accelerator at Sandia Laboratory. While the heavy ion beam accelerator

approach is still in its infancy, at least as far as its application to ICF research

is concerned, it is based on a highly developed accelerator technology from

high energy physics. Furthermore, the beam-target interaction of heavy ion

drivers and their repetition rate capabilities have stimulated a strong interest in

this technology for ICF applications.

In summary then, while the present estimates of ICF driver power and

energy requirements present a serious challenge to high-power laser develop-

ment, charged particle beam accelerators seem capable of achieving such

powers and energies with only a mild extrapolation of existing technology. The

ability of charged particle accelerators, whether based on pulsed power diode

or RF-accelerator/storage ring devices, to produce beams of the necessary

energy and power with existing technology has motivated the serious attention

currently being given to particle beams as ICF drivers.

8.1. PULSED POWER DIODE ACCELERATORS

8.1.1. GENERAL FEATURES

Pulsed power diode accelerators are not charged particle accelerators in the

usual sense familiar from high energy physics research. Rather they can be

regarded as electromagnetic pulse compressors. The general operation of these

devices involves the discharge of electrical energy from capacitive storage

devices known as Marx generators into a pulse-forming line where a short,

high power pulse is formed and then applied to a diode through a transmission

line. An intense electromagnetic wave sweeps inward along the transmission

line and emerges on a pair of face-to-face particle accelerating electrodes. One

electrode, the cathode, is pulse charged negatively with respect to the other

electrode, the anode. When millions of volts are applied to the electrodes, the

electric fields produced are sufficient to draw electrons out of the cathode

material and into the vacuum. Electrons drawn from the cathode dissipate

enough energy in both the cathode and anode to vaporize their surface layers
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and form plasmas. The cathode plasma becomes the electron source and the

anode plasma provides a source of positive charge to neutralize the electro-

static field of the beam.

The basic components of a pulsed power diode accelerator include (see

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Figure 8.1):

1. Capacitive energy storage system. This is typically a Marx generator that

functions both as a storage device and a voltage multiplier. The Marx

PULSED POWER DIODE ACCELERATORS

255

generator charges capacitors in parallel and then discharges them in series

to achieve a very high voltage. The rise time of the pulse produced by the

Marx generator is too slow for ICF driver applications, so one must next

compress the pulse in time.

2. Pulse-forming lines. A pulse-forming network is used to compress the

electrical energy into a short, fast pulse, roughly doubling the output

voltage in the process. This can be either a single pulse line or a more

complex transmission device such as a Blumlein network.

3. Transmission line. The energy pulse then travels as an intense electromag-

netic wave down a transmission line to the diode. The high-voltage

insulation of the transmission line is of particular concern since it de-

termines the maximum voltage pulse allowable.

4. Diode. The diode consists of a cathode and an anode foil, separated by a

short gap. When the high voltage pulse arrives at the cathode, its voltage

causes intense field emission from the cathode tip which produces a

plasma on the surface of the cathode and leads to the production of an

intense stream of electrons moving toward the anode. At high energies the

electrons can easily penetrate a thin anode foil and continue on to form a

relativistic electron beam with beam currents of up to several mega-

amperes. The diode polarity can be reversed and the electron current

suppressed to produce an ion beam in the device.

To illustrate such a pulsed power diode accelerator, let us consider the Particle

Beam Fusion Accelerator (PBFA-I) device at Sandia Laboratory (Al-

buquerque).25 This device, shown schematically in Figure 8.2, is typical of

pulsed power accelerators that can produce either relativistic electron beams (1

to 10 MeV) or light ion beams (H to C at energies of several MeV). The

PBFA-I accelerator is modular in design, consisting of 36 pulsed power

modules connected in parallel. Each module consists of a series of energy

storage devices separated by synchronized switches, as shown in Figure 8.3.

The primary energy storage devices used in such pulsed power accelerators are

Marx generators. These consist of a set of capacitors that are charged to

several hundred kilovolts in parallel and then discharged in series to obtain a

3.2-MV source. The switching is accomplished with triggered gas switches. In

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256

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

Figure 8.2. The Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator (PBFA-1) at the Sandia National

Laboratory.

PBFA-I the energy is transferred from the Marx generators in 650 ns at a peak

module power of 2 X 1011 W.

The pulse length of the output of the Marx generators is too long and the

power too low for ICF applications. Hence the electromagnetic pulse produced

by discharging the Marx generators must be shortened in a pulse-forming line

(PFL). However the transfer time is also too long to charge the pulse-forming

line directly. Instead, a water-filled dielectric intermediate storage capacitor is

charged by the Marx generator. This energy is then transferred to the PFL in

250 ns by a single triggered gas switch for each of the 36 modules. These

switches provide the timing for synchronizing all of the modules, being

characterized by a RMS uncertainty in switching time of 1.6 ns. Each module

has two parallel pulse-forming lines. The lines are switched into a wave mixer

with multichannel water dielectric self-triggered switches. The output pulse has

a duration of 40 ns. This surge flows through a pulse conditioner, then through

a water-vacuum interface, and finally along a magnetically self-insulated

transmission line.

It is interesting to note the difference in dielectric media at each stage of the

pulse formation and compression process. The Marx generators are submerged

in transformer oil. The intermediate storage capacitors, triggered gas switches,

pulse-forming lines, output switches, and pulse conditioners are in water. The

power flows through plastic insulators into vacuum at a distance of 6 m from

the target. Power is channeled through long self-magnetically insulated trans-

mission lines to the diodes. The diodes convert the electromagnetic energy in
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258

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

the pulse to charged particle beam energy. The particle beams are then focused

onto the target, which is placed from 20 to 50 cm from the diodes. We will

consider in more detail each of these components of the pulsed power

amplification and compression chain.

8.1.2. COMPONENTS OF PULSED POWER ACCELERATORS

Capacitive Energy Storage. The primary energy storage devices in pulsed

power accelerators are capacitors. In its simplest form, a capacitor can be

pictured as two parallel plates separated by an insulating medium. Let us

suppose for the moment that the plates are separated by a vacuum. If the

plates are charged with equal and opposite charge density ±o coulombs/cm2

and are assumed to be infinite in extent, then the electric field between them is

given by

where e„ is the emissivity of free space. We can calculate the corresponding

potential difference between the capacitor plates as

V=Ed=o-*=^=%

where d is the distance between the plates, A is the area of the plates, and ± Q

is the charge on each plate. We can identify the coefficient of the charge as just

the capacitance C

The energy stored in the electric field between the plates is

e= - — = 1rv2

fc 2 C -

If a dielectric (insulating) material is placed between the plates, then the

capacitance is changed from its vacuum value to

Here x is called the electric susceptibility of the dielectric material, and k is

called its dielectric constant. Properties of the two common dielectric materials,

oil and water, are given in Table 8.1. It should be noted that on the

microsecond time scales of pulsed power systems, water is an excellent insula-

tor (with a dielectric constant roughly 30 times that of oil).

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PULSED POWER DIODE ACCELERATORS

259

Table 8.1 Properties of Oil and Water as Dielectrics

Oil Water

Dielectric

constant

Coaxial

impedance

40

In r2/r,

200 to 300

kV/cm

2.3

6.7

In r2/r,

100 to 150

kV/cm

80

Useful field

strength

(positive

electrode)

Energy density

(J//)

Current density

(kA/m)

Polarity effect

80 to

120

Variable

~1.5:1

4 to 9

35 to 80

240 to

360

2:1

Common properties
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Breakdown is:

1. Self-healing

2. Time dependent (t"1/3)

3. Electrode initiated
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4. Electrode-surface dependent

5. Variable, hence area dependent

Marx generators consist of a bank of capacitors that can be charged in

parallel to low voltages (100 kV) and discharged in series to provide high

voltages (1 to 10 MV). Hence the capacitors comprising a Marx generator will

experience substantial stress from high voltages only during their short dis-

charge phase. In this way very high storage densities can be achieved. A Marx

generator is shown in Figure 8.3.

Intermediate storage capacitors (shown in Figure 8.3) are often coaxial

rather than flat plates. They most often use water as a dielectric medium so

that they can store more energy than an equivalent sized oil dielectric capaci-

tor.

Switches. Once the Marx generators or intermediate storage capacitors

have been charged, the energy must be rapidly switched out to achieve short

pulses. Switches are therefore a critical element in the design of pulsed power

accelerators. Switches are generally spark gaps designed to discharge between

two electrodes when some programmed initiation mechanism is activated. For

example, a short voltage pulse might be used to initiate the discharge, thereby

closing the switch. In this case the voltage across the switch would be less than

the breakdown voltage until the external voltage is applied. Switches use

various dielectric materials to insulate the electrodes from one another. High

pressure gas such as air or SF6 are commonly used in so-called gas switches.
260

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II : PARTICLE BEAMS

Switches are also very important in affecting the shape of the current pulse.

When extremely short pulses are required, the switching time becomes critical

to the rise time of the pulse. The rise time is determined by the inductance of

the switch, since inductance limits the time rate of change of the current. The

inductance can be decreased by increasing the number of breakdown channels

in the switch.

Self-triggered switches discharge when the voltage drop across the electrodes

exceeds their breakdown value. These switches are most useful for transferring

energy from the rapidly charged final pulse forming lines that feed the load.

This self-triggered breakdown is common for water or oil switches. These

switches are much smaller than gas switches. This can pose a critical problem

at the pulse-forming line stage of the pulse compression.

Puke-Forming Lines. Pulse-forming lines (PFL) are yet another form of

energy storage device that serve to shorten the pulse length and thus increase

its power.26"29 In a simple coaxial transmission line the output voltage is

one-half of the input voltage, but the output current is equal to the switch

current. In the Blumlein triaxial transmission line, this situation is reversed. In

practice, the simple coaxial PFL has been associated with low impedance

systems and water dielectrics, and the Blumlein with high impedances and oil

dielectrics.

The pulse-forming line length is determined by the desired electrical pulse

length. This is twice the length of the line divided by the speed of the electrical

signal in the dielectric. This can be understood by recognizing that once the

output switch is closed, L/vs seconds are required to propagate this informa-

tion to the far end of the transmission line, and L/vs seconds are required for

this charge to flow to the switch.

The staged pulse compression that is produced by the synchronized switch-

ing of power between the Marx generator, intermediate storage capacitor,

pulse-forming line, and finally the transmission line in a single PBFA-I module

is shown in Figure 8.3.

Self-Magnetically Insulated Transmission Lines. The sequence of power

flow through oil and water dielectrics into the vacuum interface before the

diode is called the power flow chain. At each stage of this chain the medium

has an electrical breakdown strength that is determined by the medium and the

pulse length, among other factors. The weakest link in this chain is the vacuum
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interface between the PFL and the diode. To prevent breakdown at the very

high power levels required for ICF driver applications, many square meters of

insulator surface area would be required with conventional dielectrics (oil or

water). Simple geometric considerations imply that this vacuum interface must
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be many meters from the target, and hence power must be transported over

this distance. This problem can be solved by the use of self-magnetically

insulated transmission lines.30"33

If a voltage is applied to a vacuum dielectric transmission line, only the

displacement current flows if the electric field is less than 25 MV/m. This line
PULSED POWER DIODE ACCELERATORS

261

behaves as a classical transmission line. If the voltage increases, and the electric

field exceeds 25 MV/m, a conduction current flows across the vacuum gap. If

the voltage source has sufficiently low impedance, the current increases with

the loss current until it reaches a critical value at which electrons are deflected

in the self-generated magnetic field of the current and are thereby prevented

from reaching the anode surface (see Figure 8.4). Once the initial loss current is

established, the power flow in this self-magnetically insulated transmission line

is very efficient (~ 100%).

In PBFA-I, the same power that would require 4000 cm2 of insulator surface

area in a traditional transmission line can be carried by 50 cm2 of magnetically

insulated transmission line at an electrical stress of 2 MV/cm and a power

density of 16 GW/cm2. After the lossy front has propagated down the line at

half the speed of light, the power transport is 100% efficient. This increased

power density is the key to scaling pulsed power machines to the power levels

required by ICF driver applications.

Diodes. The electromagnetic pulse energy is converted into charged particle

beam energy in a diode.15"17,34-40 The simplest example is provided by the

electron emitting diode shown in Figure 8.5. When the high voltage pulse is

applied across the anode-cathode gap, a breakdown process begins. Micro-

scopic whiskers or imperfections that typically cover the cathode explode,

forming a dense plasma. Because of the electric field enhancement on these

Figure 8.4. A self-magnetically insulated transmission line.

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262

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

UJ

Figure 8.5. An electron emitting diode.

protrusions, the initial field emission current density is of the order of 109

A/cm2. This leads to rapid resistive heating and vaporization of these whiskers.

The vapor is easily ionized and heated, and explodes toward the anode at a

velocity of 2 to 3X 106 cm/s.

If the current density from regions of field enhancement on the cathode is

sufficiently high, then anode material can be vaporized and move toward the

cathode. The anode and cathode plasmas act as virtual electrodes, thereby

decreasing the effective region of electron acceleration and the subsequent

diode impedance. The cathode emission is from the dense expanding plasma.

For low currents, electrons stream across the gap reaching the anode with

small angles of incidence. As the current is increased, the angle of intersection

with the anode increases because of the self-magnetic field of the beam. This

critical pinch current can be expressed as

/r = 8.5Xl03-rt3/Vrf (amperes)

where y = E/mc2+1, R is the cathode radius, d is the gap width, and

/? = (1-Y2),/2.

In early electron beam fusion experiments, the target was mounted directly

onto the anode, where it was bathed in relativistic electrons swarming from the

cathode. A great deal of work has been devoted to the design of these electron

diodes to achieve efficient conversion of electromagnetic pulse energy into

relativistic electron energy. This transfer can be accomplished with efficiencies

approaching 100%.

Such pulsed power diode electron beam accelerators can be applied to the

production of hard X rays quite readily. These machines are relatively inexpen-

sive, wall-plug to electron power conversion is high, and the required power

levels are attainable. However, for fusion applications many problems remain.

There appear to be limitations on the electron current that can be focused onto

a target due to magnetic field and space charge effects near the target. The

electron beam-target interaction also raises serious questions. The classical

energy deposition range of relativistic electrons is quite large. Furthermore,

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PULSED POWER DIODE ACCELERATORS

263

these electrons produce appreciable bremsstrahlung radiation during energy

deposition, which can penetrate into the target, preheating the fuel. These

beam propagation and energy deposition problems cast serious doubt about

the suitability of electron beam drivers to inertial confinement fusion.

These problems have been mitigated to some extent with the possibility of

accelerating light ions rather than electrons in pulsed power accelerators. This

is made possible through ion diode designs and a reversal of the machine

polarity. Both of these modifications can be implemented rather easily, so that

pulsed power devices can serve a dual purpose of accelerating electrons for

X-ray production and ions for fusion target irradiation.

It has been known for some time that pulsed power diode accelerators could

be used to produce ion beams. In fact, in many instances high energy ions have

been found traveling along with the electron beams even when such devices are

operated in the electron beam mode. This occurs because if the electron

current density is high enough (greater than several kA/cm2), then the anode

material and anode surface contaminants are strongly heated and turned into a

plasma sheet before the end of the pulse. The diode,s electric field then pulls

positively charged ions from this anode plasma and accelerates them to the

cathode, thereby producing a very powerful ion beam.

Hence to produce ion beams for use as fusion drivers, one must first reverse

the polarity of the diode. Then the electron flow must be suppressed, since in

normal diode operation, the small mass of the electrons compared to the ions

causes the majority of the current to be carried by this species. For example, if

the ions were protons, then the proton current (and therefore the proton beam

power) would only be about 2% that of the electron beam.

One scheme for suppressing the electron flow from the cathode is to impose

an external magnetic field on the anode-cathode gap that is strong enough to

impede the electron flow across the gap. This is shown schematically in Figure

8.6. With the electrons orbiting the field lines, ions introduced in the vicinity of

the anode from a plasma layer or an external injector are accelerated toward

the negative electron cloud. Because of the large ion mass, the ion current is

not affected by the magnetic field. By shaping the ion source region properly,

the ions can be ballistically focused through the anode onto a target or into the

end of a plasma transport channel. In a variation of this idea, the magnetic

field can be generated by currents in the diode itself.

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Ion diode research currently centers on improving the power density bright-

ness factor, JV/82, where J is the ion source current density, V is the

accelerating voltage, and 6 is the divergence of the beam. To improve this

figure of merit, we see that an increase in voltage is desirable. This will allow
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larger anode-cathode gaps while maintaining a high value of J. If J is kept the

same and V is increased then the stiffer beam will be less susceptib.'e to

defocusing effects due to structure in the diode. For these reasons, the power

brightness is expected to scale as V2 5. With these high voltages (4 to 10 MV

rather than 1 to 2 MV), it is also desirable to accelerate more massive ions such

as helium or carbon because they are less affected by magnetic fields in the
264

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

diode. This improves focussability. Furthermore, to maintain a constant ion

range in the target ablator for high voltage (kinetic energy) ions, the Z value of

the ion must increase. (Recall the discussion in Chapter 5.)

Particle Beam Propagation. A major concern arising in the application of

pulsed power accelerators (either electron or ion beam) as ICF drivers involves

the propagation of the particle beam from standoff diodes to the target.19-41"47

The focusing of the beams onto the target involves a competition between the

momenta of the particles as they are aimed at the target and the repulsive

Coulomb or space charge forces that arise between the particles as they are

squeezed together near the target. These competing effects limit the focal spot

size and the distance over which the beams can be propagated.

Space charge effects rapidly cause beam spreading and defocusing for

electron beam propagation into a vacuum. However, by allowing the beam to

propagate through a low pressure gas (air), ion production neutralizes the

space charge of the beam and permits it to propagate. The electron beam

propagation also generates a strong magnetic field that can pinch down the

beam radius. If the beam current is too high, however, instabilities can develop

and the beam does not propagate. However, by allowing the beam to propa-

gate through a plasma channel, the return current will allow currents in excess

of this critical limit (although the net current is still below the limit).

Even with such plasma channels, it is now felt that space charge effects may

prevent electron beam propagation over the distances or focusing to the

intensities required by ICF applications. The situation appears more hopeful

for light ions. Here the mass and hence the momentum of the particles is large

so there is hope that they can be propagated ballistically over distances up to

50 cm in the megaampere current range. However this is still insufficient for

reactor applications since a diode at a standoff distance of only 50 cm would

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PULSED POWER DIODE ACCELERATORS

265

suffer major damage from each ICF shot. A possible solution to this problem

is to use very many ion beams so that the current in each beam is small, and

the space charge effects are not so pronounced. Such schemes have been

proposed, but they are not compatible with the high current pulsed power

approach to particle acceleration. Rather they appear more suitable for the

particle accelerator approach of high energy physics that is discussed later in

this chapter.

A method that is more suited to pulsed power technology involves the

propagation of the ion beam in a preformed, ionized plasma channel as shown

in Figure 8.7. In this scheme the plasma channel is initiated by preionizing a

fine line of gas with an exploding wire or laser beam. A capacitor bank is then

discharged through this ionized path, creating a hot plasma channel with a

current of roughly 50 kA. This current establishes a magnetic field around the

channel. The hydrodynamics of the discharge pushes gas from the channel,

forming a high density layer at the outer channel radius. Ions (or electrons) are

then injected into the end of the channel where they are trapped by the

magnetic field as they propagate toward the target at the other end. The

relatively high density of the channel compared to the beam density neutralizes

the beam space charge while the current in the channel neutralizes the beam

current. These effects negate the space charge problems encountered in vacuum

propagation.

Ion orbits in the channel can be estimated if we assume that the beam is

entirely space and current neutralized.19 In this case the single ion betatron

orbits are computed as follows: If we model the channel current by a uniform

profile, the azimuthal magnetic field is given by

B = B0y r<rc

= *<>7 r>rt

t»«i w*t» * partem tn twan contain** 6j cfwnmf

channel dacharie power supply magnetic inn ol lore* target

Figure 8.7. Propagation of an ion beam in an ionized plasma channel. (Courtesy of

Sandia National Laboratory.)

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266 DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

where rc is the channel radius. The equations of motion for an ion confined in

such a channel are

if

where uch = eB0/mlc, the cyclotron frequency of the beam ion. For the case of

r/i<£ 1. an expansion can be used to solve these equations, giving

z- | K0cosa0- cos2<J>J /

+ ^(T^),/2[sin2*(v+*)--2*]

r=rcos(upt + <j>)

where

-oil a<t>r i tan "°

W/j-ii 1 — 1 j—

16/^0 cos a0 4

tan<f>=- ——r-2 tana0

\ wf6coso0 /

1/2

and /-(()) = r0, ;(0) = ;0, r(0)= K0sina0, and i(0) = V0cosa0. F0 is the injection

velocity, a0 the injection angle, and Q2 = uchV0/rc. Since ions should be

confined in the channel, a relationship between the maximum angle of injec-

tion or and the current in the channel is

/„M)>(l.57Xl07^) 1-^

where /i is the ratio of the ion mass to the proton mass, and rs is the beam spot

size at injection. For a 2 MeV proton beam with am = 0.2 rad, r,=0.4 cm, and

r, =0.6 cm, we find I0> 180 kA.

The z motion of the ions has both a streaming and an oscillatory component.

Hence ions injected at the same time will arrive at the target at different times.
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PULSED POWER DIODE ACCELERATORS

267

Table 8.2 Energy Loss of Protons in a 4-m Long Plasma Channel

of Density = 10/760 atm

(Corresponds to 50 torr Chamber Prefill)

Energy Loss Energy Loss Energy Loss

for 2-MeV Proton for 4-MeV Proton for 10-MeV Proton

Gas

(MeV)

(MeV)

(MeV)

He

0.16

0.09

0.04

Li

0.24

0.14

0.07

N2

0.90

0.55

0.26

Ne

0.55

0.36

0.18

Ar

0.90

0.55

0.28

Xe

1.80

1.20

0.65

This spread in arrival time is given by

where Z, is the channel length. This time spreading can be very important for
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beam-bunching considerations. If the diode voltage is ramped so that the end

of the ion pulse has a higher velocity than the beginning of the pulse, then the

later ions can overtake the earlier ions on route to the target. This axial beam

compression or bunching can shorten the pulse and hence increase the power
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by as much as a factor of 3 to 5. In this case the actual pulse length is

determined by the accuracy of the voltage ramp and the spread in arrival time.

There are many other effects that determine the efficiency of the beam

propagation. These include beam rippling, bumpy channels, electric fields that

slow the beam, and possible instabilities arising from nonperfect charge and

current neutralization. Table 8.2 indicates the loss of beam energy in channels

of differing ionized gases. Channels have been created in the laboratory using

both fine wires, laser beams and wall confined discharges, and ions have been

propagated through these channels, thus demonstrating the feasibility of this

approach.

8.1.3. SUMMARY OF PULSED POWER ACCELERATORS

We have noted that while pulsed power diode accelerators have been operated

since the mid-1960s as intense X-ray sources, they have only recently been

applied to inertial confinement fusion research. A list of the most notable

machines, past, present, and future, along with their operating characteristics is

given in Table 8.3. Many of these machines are serving double duty as X-ray

generators and test-stands for fusion related experiments. The major program-

matic effort in pulsed power accelerators is centered at Sandia Laboratory

(Albuquerque) where actual ICF target implosions have been driven with both
268 DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

Table 8.3 A Brief List of Pulsed Diode Accelerators

Machine

Location

P(TW)

/:(kJ)

V(MV)

/(MA)

T(ps)

Proto I

SNL

1.1

22

2.0

0.55

24

Proto II

SNL

100

1.6

22

PBFA I

SNL

30

1000

2.0

15

42

PBFA II

SNL

100

4000

4.0

25

35
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HYDRA

SNL

0.4

35
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1.0

0.4

80

BLACKJACK 5

Maxwell

10

1000

2.0

5.0

100

AURORA

Harry Diamond

20

2500

15.0

1.6

125

GAMBLE II

NRL

2.5

150

2.0

1.2

60

PITHON

PIC

500

2.0
HEAVY ION BEAM FUSION

269

laboratories will allow research groups to test ideas about ion diode design and

ion beam transport, thereby contributing to the light ion beam ICF program.

It is useful to briefly summarize the relative advantages and disadvantages of

pulsed power accelerators (primarily using light ion beams) as ICF drivers

when compared to other driver types. To begin on a positive note, the coupling

of light ion beams (although not necessarily with electron beams) is expected to

be far superior to that found with laser drivers with infrared wavelengths (i.e.,

Nd and CO2). Apparently, light ions will deposit their energy in the target via

classical collision mechanisms, while it is known that a significant fraction of

the energy deposited by long wavelength laser light appears as suprathermal

electrons.

Furthermore pulsed power machines are much more efficient than lasers.

The conversion efficiency of wall-plug electricity to ions at the target is

expected to be as high as 30 to 35%. For lasers, the best that can be achieved is

5 to 10%. This implies that the minimum economical target gain requirement is

relaxed considerably for light ion drivers.

Pulsed power accelerators can deliver very large amounts of energy. The

PBFA-I facility is rated at 1 MJ at the diode, while the largest present laser

facility, Shiva (at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory) can deliver only about

20 kJ. Furthermore, pulsed power machines are relatively inexpensive com-

pared to lasers. The cost of PBFA-I is only $7/J while lasers generally cost

several times this amount.

Pulsed power accelerators share an advantage with lasers over high current

heavy ion accelerators in that the technology developed for these drivers has

other applications aside from ICF research.

But there are also several drawbacks with pulsed power accelerators. Al-

though pulsed power accelerators are energy rich, they are also power and

intensity poor. Certainly the 100 TW projected for large machines such as

PBFA-I is a significant power level, but it may still not be sufficient for ICF.

Intensities of 50 TW/cm2 are expected from PBFA-II, but again this may not

be sufficient. All of the other advantages of pulsed power accelerators are for

nought if targets cannot be designed to yield adequate performance at these

relatively low intensities.

The pulse lengths characterizing pulsed power accelerators are limited to

greater than about 10 ns. If shorter pulses at higher powers are required to
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drive ICF targets, these drivers may prove unsatisfactory.

Both pulsed power and laser drivers face problems for repetitive operation.

For reactor applications, devices must fire 1 to 10 times per second, while

current experimental devices operate at 1 to 10 shots per day.

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8.2. HEAVY ION BEAM FUSION

The use of particle beam accelerators as ICF drivers assumes two quite

different forms. In the previous section we discussed the application of pulsed

power diode accelerators to produce beams of light ions in the MeV range for
270

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

use as ICF drivers. Of more recent vintage are proposals that high energy

physics accelerator technology be applied to accelerate heavy ions (e.g., Xe to

U) to GeV energies and then focus these heavy ions beams on ICF targets.48"53

Not only do such beams couple quite effectively to drive ICF targets, but the

technology developed for high energy physics research appears capable of

extrapolation to the high current pulses required by ICF applications. A rather

substantial theoretical effort has been directed toward the use of heavy ion

accelerators for ICF, and workshops have been held annually for a number of

years to summarize the state-of-the-art in the design of heavy ion beam

drivers.48"51

However almost the entire heavy ion beam (HIB) fusion effort to date has

been of a theoretical nature, with only a very modest experimental component.

HIB accelerator concepts are generally very expensive (ranging in cost from

$100 million to $1 billion for an ICF facility) and do not appear to be capable

of being studied on a small experimental scale. Hence the "entry fee" into this

approach to ICF is very high, and limited funding has kept the HIB program

at the level of paper studies. It is expected that the feasibility demonstration

for ICF will come with a large laser or light ion beam driver (such as

PBFA-II). Once high gain targets have been verified by one of these facilities,

then serious programs directed at engineering development with the eventual

goal of commercialization can be undertaken. At this stage, the HIB approach

might step in as the ultimate commercial ICF driver. Of course, this is highly

speculative, but it does serve to place the HIB driver in perspective aside laser

and pulsed power ion beam drivers.

In the following sections we review the principal types of HIB drivers being

proposed, including their major components and several of the relevant

physical principles underlying the operation of these accelerators.

8.2.1. HEAVY ION BEAM DRIVER TYPES

There are at least three approaches to the acceleration of heavy ions.52 These

include (1) the RF linac (radio frequency linear accelerator), (2) the induction

linac, and (3) the synchrotron based accelerator. An example of the RF linac

system is shown in Figure 8.9. This accelerator differs dramatically from the

pulsed power machines discussed in Section 8.1. Starting with an ion source at

low energy and current, the ions are accelerated through several stages of the

system, to then be stored or accumulated in storage rings where the pulse

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length can be compressed. Bunches of ions are then switched out and guided to

the target through magnetic focusing elements. Further pulse compression is

achieved as the ions drift from the storage rings to the target.

The size of these heavy ion accelerators is immense, with typical lengths
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being measured in kilometers. One similarity to the pulsed power or laser

drivers is the fact that heavy ion drivers are composed of many different

elements. For example, HIB fusion approaches deal with conventional acceler-

ator components such as ion sources, injectors, Wideroe linacs, Alvarez linacs,
HEAVY ION BEAM FUSION

271

Type of machine

Schematic Assembly

Beam Output

8 Cockcroft-Walton

injectors

8 2-MHz Wideroe

linacs

P0W

Electron stripper

4 4—MHz Wideroe linacs

2 8-MHz Wideroe linacs

48-MHz Alvarez linac

96-MHz Alvarez linac

192-MHz Alvarez linac

Multiplier ring-1 km radius

Multiplier ring—100m radius

8 Accumulator rings-IOOm

radius with beam

compression factor of 30

8 Beam compressors with

factor of 5

Pellet assembly boilers

etc

AO

â– â–

40mA each of U" at500keV

M/ VAV/ V/

20mA each of U*' at 8MeV

20mA each of U*2 at 6MeV

!40mA each of U* 2 at 13MeV

80mA each of U*2at30MeV

160mA of U*2 at 120MeV

160mA of U*2 at 480MeV

160mA of U*2 at 20GeV

1.6A of U*2 at 20GeV

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16A of U*2 at 20GeV

500A each of U *2 at 20GeV

2500 A each of U*2 at 20

GeV, 10 MJ, 200 TW

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Fusion energy

Figure 8.9. The Brookhaven National Laboratory heavy-ion fusion accelerator design.

(Courtesy of Fusion magazine.)

multiplier rings, accumulator rings, synchrotron rings, and so on. Part of the

intent of this section is to introduce the reader to the concepts and jargon used

in the discussion of such accelerators.

8.2.2. COMPONENTS OF HEAVY ION ACCELERATORS53

Ion Sources. In contrast to electron sources that can be based on conven-

tional cathode or field emission processes, most high current ion sources
272

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

involve applying electric fields to gaseous discharges or plasmas to extract ion

beams. Advanced ion sources could employ pulsed power diode technology

similar to that discussed in Section 8.1. Typical ion sources operate with

extraction voltages of tens of kilovolts. The velocity of keV ions is too low and

their space charge repulsion too high to allow direct injection into a main

accelerator stage. Hence it is common to house the ion source in a terminal

maintained at a high DC voltage (typically 750 kV) by conventional Cockroft-

Walton voltage multiplying circuits.

Low Beta A ccelerators. DC acceleration to energies of 1 MeV is adequate

for injection of protons into conventional RF linacs, even at high currents

(several hundred milliamperes). However heavy ions of that energy are moving

so slowly that another element must be added into the accelerating chain. Such

"low beta" accelerators (where "beta" refers to the ratio of ion speed to the

speed of light) represent a new development in accelerator technology. Oscillat-

ing electric fields are difficult to use since such low frequencies would be

required by the slow ion speeds. Resonant cavities would require excessive size

and power consumption to handle such high currents. Of present interest is the

Wideroe accelerator, developed several decades ago at the low frequencies

required for heavy ion acceleration. Present designs still operate at low currents

and frequencies still somewhat high for ICF applications. Drift tubes are used

to facilitate the operation of the accelerator chain as a single pass device, that

is, to allow a single bunch of ions to pass from ion source to target.

Main Accelerators. The energies and currents required for HIB fusion

eliminate conventional heavy ion accelerators such as cyclotrons or synchro-

cyclotrons as possible options. Instead, HIB fusion concepts tend to favor RF

linacs, induction linacs, or synchrotron accelerators. The type of RF linac best

suited to heavy ion beam fusion was developed by Alvarez and consists of a

succession of cylindrical cavities, resonant at frequencies of 50 to 100 MHz, in

which there is a uniform axial electric field. In each cavity a succession of

smaller cylinders or "drift tubes" is suspended to shield the ions from the

electric field in its decelerating phase as they pass through the cavity. Focusing

magnets or electrodes are contained in each of the drift tubes to provide

transverse containment for the beam. The RF power necessary to maintain the

accelerating field and to supply energy to the ions is coupled into the sides of

the cavities from power amplifiers. Such Alvarez linac devices are a common
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component in all high energy proton accelerators.

A second type of accelerator with potential for ICF driver application is the

induction linac developed by Christofilos in the late 1950s. The accelerating

action in this type of device is analogous to the operation of a transformer. It

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consists of ferromagnetic rings with a one-turn primary. The beam itself acts as

a one-turn secondary winding. Induction linacs are capable of high current

operation. They accelerate the ions in a single pass, eliminating the current

multiplying operations required in more conventional accelerators. Transverse

focusing is provided by magnets placed between the accelerating modules. In

HEAVY ION BEAM FUSION

273

contrast to the RF linac, in which beam intensity is limited by the rate at

which the cavity stored energy can be replaced, the induction linac works best

when the pulse length is short and the current is high. The ability of the

focusing fields to contain high currents is a dominant factor in the design of an

induction linac.

The third type of accelerator of interest in ICF applications is the alternating

gradient synchrotron. Such machines consist of an array of bending and

quadrapole magnets closing on themselves around an approximately circular

path. Accelerating cavities are distributed around the ring. Ions are injected

into the ring from a linac or smaller synchrotron, after which the magnetic

fields are increased in strength. Bunches of ions are locked in step with the RF

frequency and gain energy from the RF cavities. The frequency is gradually

increased to correspond to the rotation frequency demanded by the increasing

magnetic field. At peak magnetic field and ion kinetic energy, the ions can be

extracted from the ring, usually by pulsing special magnets. Although this

accelerator provides the simplest and most economic means for achieving high

ion energies, peak currents are severely limited. Hence the beam must be

extracted in many small bunches, perhaps a hundred or more, greatly com-

plicating delivery to the ICF target. Furthermore, the energy efficiency of a

synchrotron is inherently low due to the power required by the magnets.

A ccumulator (Storage) Rings. Conventional ion sources and low-beta accel-

erators produce currents on the order of 25 mA. It is proposed to use several

such units funneling together in pairs to form a treelike collection of RF linacs

yielding a current of 500 mA. But ICF applications will require beam currents

on the kiloampere level. Hence it is proposed to feed the RF linac beams into

one or more accumulator or storage rings. These rings would consist of arrays

of bending and focusing magnets (similar to a synchrotron), probably based on

superconducting magnets. The linac beams could be injected into an accumula-

tor ring for as many as a hundred turns. The resulting circulating current could

then be built up to 50 A.

Linear Compressors. To compress the ion bunch length and increase the

beam current to the levels required for ICF drivers, induction accelerator

modules can be used in which the voltage waveform is such that the early-

arriving ions are decelerated slightly and the late ones strongly accelerated. The

ions would then drift freely, constrained transversely by quadrapole magnets,

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until the faster ions catch up with the slower ions to compress the bunch. The

induction accelerator modules could be located in the accumulator rings or in

the transport lines following beam extraction.

Beam Transport Lines. Between components of the accelerator chain, the

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beams are guided by a succession of focusing magnets (probably superconduct-

ing quadrapoles). Such beam transport lines are standard equipment in con-

ventional accelerators. However, they will represent a significant contribution

to the capital cost of an HIB driver facility.

274

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

Final Focusing. The last set of two or three quadrupoles in the transport

lines will be used to focus the beam on the target. The demands placed on

these final focusing magnets are severe, since they must focus the beam on a

spot a few millimeters in diameter located 5 to 10 m from the end of the

transport line. Beam optics require an expansion to as much as a meter in

diameter in the final focusing lenses. Fortunately, at this beam size, space

charge effects are relatively unimportant, and will remain so until the beam is

within a short distance of the target. The design of the final focusing lens

system will play an important role in the achievement of beam intensities

sufficient to drive ICF targets.

8.2.3. BEAM PHYSICS CONSIDERATIONS

Beam Loss Mechanisms. Physical structures such as electrodes or current

carrying sheets must often be located in places where they may intercept some

fraction of the ion beam during its formation, acceleration, and focusing. By

careful design such beam losses can be kept to a few percent. Other important

loss mechanisms include atomic collision processes. If an ion collides with a

residual gas molecule and gains or loses an electron, the change in its radius of

curvature in bending magnets or lenses will force it into the wall of the vacuum

chamber. Hence a premium is placed on achieving a good vacuum, typically in

the range of 10-10 torr in accumulator rings and 10"7 torr in linacs. A second

collision loss mechanism is intra-beam charge exchange. Within a given bunch,

ions may collide with one another as they oscillate about. Any such collisions

resulting in a change in charge state can result in ion loss. Such loss processes

can limit the storage time in accumulator rings.

Beam Focusing Constraints** Throughout the acceleration process, the

forces applied to the ions to constrain and accelerate them or exerted by the

ions on one another are electromagnetic in nature. If the individual particle

encounters are neglected compared to long-range collective forces, then

Liouville,s Theorem implies that the volume occupied by the required number

of particles in the six-dimensional phase space (position and momentum) is a

constant of the motion. The area of the projection of this volume onto a plane

defined by one coordinate and its corresponding momentum is called the

"emittance" of the beam in that degree of freedom. If the three degrees of

freedom are uncoupled, then each of the three emittances is a constant of the

motion. If they are coupled the situation is more complicated. In any case the
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product of the three emittances corresponding to horizontal, vertical, or

longitudinal motion, is the six-dimensional volume and is a constant of the

motion.

Liouville,s Theorem provides a necessary condition on the accelerator de-

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sign. If the transverse emittances at the final lens are limited by geometric

aberrations, and the longitudinal emittance is limited by pulse duration and

the longitudinal momentum spread, and the maximum number of beams is

HEAVY ION BEAM FUSION

275

limited by practical considerations, then the ion source and low-beta accelera-

tor must supply the required number of ions in a phase space volume less than

the product of the final three emittances and the number of final beams. If this

is not achieved, then no degree of complexity or ingenuity in the intervening

hardware can produce the desired result. In practice it is impossible to

manipulate the beam through the various stages of the accelerator without

"stirring some air" into the phase space volume (much as the volume of an egg

is increased by beating it). These dilution effects must be taken into account in

accelerator design.55"58

Space Charge Limits. Space charge effects tend to defocus the beam. This

can be particularly important during circular motions such as in a synchrotron

or storage ring. To compensate for this effect, one can lower the charge state of

the ions, increase the beam emittance, or inject ions at a higher kinetic energy.

Such changes require more expensive injectors, larger synchrotron aperatures,

and more elaborate manipulation of the beam to reduce the final emittance per

beam on target to an acceptable level.

Beam Transport Limits. There is a cost premium on keeping the ion bunch

length and instantaneous current as high as possible. A question arises as to

what level of current can be transported for long distances in a quadrupole

beam line without serious degradation in longitudinal or transverse emittance.

Both theoretical and computer-based studies have been directed at this ques-

tion in recent years. These investigations have revealed the possibility of

instabilities arising in the transverse motion of the beam leading to emittance

growth factors of two or three. However a more definitive conclusion awaits

experimental studies.

8.2.4. FINAL BEAM TRANSPORT IN THE REACTION

CHAMBER

In the heavy ion beam approach to ICF, many beams are focused by magnets

at a distance of 5 to 20 m from the target. After final focusing, the beam

propagation to the target can be via several different mechanisms depending

on the gas pressure in the cavity. This is shown schematically in Figure 8.10. At

pressures below 10-4 torr the beam propagates as it would in a vacuum. Here

the major problem arises from space charge effects due to the nonneutralized

beam. At pressures greater than 10 * torr, the high value of the cross section

for ionization of the beam ions (o~ 10-16— 10-17 cm2) implies that the beam
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ion charge state grows while the background gas is ionized. As a result, the

beam may be partially or fully charge and current neutralized; however a

two-stream instability may be excited, thereby deflecting the beam. As the

pressure is increased to about 1 torr, collisions with gas atoms inhibit the
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growth of the two-stream instability, however current filamentation can now

occur. This again will defocus the beam. There may be a "window" at about 1

torr where instabilities are suppressed, and the beam will propagate. This is a
276

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

1 X~2 I 3 I 4 5 I 6

I a i I § I Cha—I—S I I

10-e 10-5 10-4 10-3 10-2 ! ,o ioJ 103

Pressure (torr)

Figure 8.10. Background gas pressure regimes for heavy ion beam transport.

very speculative subject at this time, and final verification will only come with

high current experiments. At the higher pressures, the neutralized current

decays because of plasma resistivity and significant magnetic field production.

These fields confine the beam enroute to the target in a fashion somewhat

analogous to the pinched mode of beam propagation used in the pulsed power

diode, light ion approach.

REFERENCES

1. G. Yonas, "Fusion Power with Particle Beams," Sct. Am. 239. 50 (November, 1978).

2. G. Yonas, "Particle Beam Fusion Program: Publications and Related Reports," Sandia

National Laboratory Report SAND-80-0809 (1980).

3. G. Kuswa, "Progress Toward Fusion with Light Ions." Eighth International Conference on

Plasma Phys. and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research, Brussels, 1980 (Vienna, International

Atomic Energy Agency, 1979).

4. S. L. Bogolyubskij et. al., "Demonstration of the Possibility of Using Electron Beams for

Heating Thermonuclear Targets," 6 th Int. Conf. on Plasma Physics and Controlled Thermo-

nuclear Fusion Research (Vienna, 1977).

5. A. J. Toepfer, "Particle Beam Fusion," lectures presented at the ANL-AUA Faculty Institute

on Inertial Confinement Fusion, Argonne National Laboratory, 1978.

6. S. Nakai, K. Imasaki, and C. Yamanaka, "Relativistic-Electron Beam Induced Fusion,"

lectures presented at the ANL-AUA Faculty Institute on Inertial Confinement Fusion.

Argonne National Laboratory. 1978.

7. J. W. Poukey et. al, "Focused Intense Ion Beams Using Self-Pinched Relativistic Electron

Beams," Phys. Rev. Lett. 35, 1806 (1975).

8. J. T. Verdeyen et. al., "The Use of Electronic Space Charge to Accelerate, Focus, and Bunch

Ions for Pellet Fusion." Appl. Phys. Lett. 27, 380 (1975).

9. W. Bostick, V. Nardi, and O. Zucker, Eds., Energy Storage, Compression, and Switching (New

York, Plenum, 1976).

10. G. Yonas, Ed., Proc. Int. Top. Conf. Electron Beam Res. Technol., Vol. I and II, November,

1975 (Albuquerque, NM).

11. P. A. Miller, et. al., "Light Ion and Electron Beams for Inertial Fusion," Comments on Plasma
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Physics 5, 95 (1979).

12. Electron-Beam Fusion Progress Report, 1975, Sandia National Laboratory Report SAND-

76-0148, June-July, 1976, SAND-76-0410, July-September, 1976, SAND-76-0711. October,

1976-March, 1977, SAND-77-1414, April-September, 1977, SAND-78-0080. Particle Beam

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Fusion Progress Report, October, 1977-March, 1978, SAND-79-0002. April-December,

1978, SAND-79-1011, January-June, 1979. SAND-79-1944.

13. G. Cooperstein, D. Mosher, J. R. Boiler, D. G. Colombant, W. F. Oliphant, S. J. Stephanakis,

F. C. Young, S. A. Goldstein, R. J. Barker, R. A. Meger. P. F. Ottinger, F. L. Sandcl, and A.

Drobot, "NRL Light Ion Beam Research for Inertial Confinement Fusion," NRL Mem-

orandum Report 4387 (November 20, 1980).

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14. D. J. Johnson, S. A. Goldstein, R. Lee, and W. F. Oliphant, "Time-Dependent Impedance

Behavior of Low-Impedance REB Diodes During Self-Pinching," J. Appl. Phys. 49,4634-4643

(1978).

15. A. E. Blaugrund and G. Cooperstein, "Intense Focusing of Relativistic Electrons by Collaps-

ing Hollow Beams," Phys. Rev. Lett. 34, 461-464 (1975).

16. S. A. Goldstein and R. Lee, "Ion-Induced Pinch and The Enhancement of Ion Current by

Pinched Electron Flow in Relativistic Diodes," Phys. Rev. Lett. 35, 1079-1082 (1975).

17. S. J. Stephanakis. D. Mosher, G. Cooperstein. J. R. Boiler, J. Golden, and S. A. Goldstein,

"Production of Intense Proton Beams in Pinched-Electron-Beam Diodes," Phys. Rev. Lett.

37, 1543-1546 (1976).

18. S. A. Goldstein, G. Cooperstein, R. Lee, D. Mosher, and S. J. Stephanakis, "Focusing of

Intense Ion Beams from Pinched-Beam Diodes." Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 1504-1507 (1978).

19. P. F. Ottinger, D. Mosher, and S. A. Goldstein, "Propagation of Intense Ion Beams in Straint

and Tapered Z-Discharge Plasma Channels." Phys. Fluids 23. 909-920 (1980).

20. P. F. Ottinger. D. Mosher and S. A. Goldstein, "Electromagnetic Instabilities in a Focused

Ion Beam Propagating Through a Z-Discharge Plasma," Phys. Fluids 24, 164-170 (1981).

21. P. F. Ottinger and D. Mosher, "Microstability of a Focused Ion Beam Propagating Through a

Z-Pinch Plasma," Phys. Fluids 22, 332-337 (1979).

22. P. F. Ottinger, D. Mosher, and S. A. Goldstein, "Stability Considerations for Light-Ion Beam

Transport in Z-Discharge Channels," NRL Memorandum Report, (March 1981).

23. D. G. Colombant, S. A. Goldstein, and D. Mosher, "Hydrodynamic Response of Plasma

Channels to Propagating Ion Beams," Phys. Rev. Lett. 45, 1253-1256 (1980).

24. D. Mosher and D. G. Colombant, "Beam Requirements for Light-Ion-Driven Inertial-

Confinemcnt Fusion," NRL Memorandum Report 4397 (November 27, 1980).

25. J. Van Devender, "Light Ion Fusion Driver Technology: Pulsed Power Technology." Fusion

Energy Technology, NE 712, In-Hours Technical Courses, Sandia Laboratory, August, 1980.

26. T. H. Martin and K. R. Prestwich, "EBFA, a 20 TH Electron Beam Accelerator," in Energy

Storage, Compression, and Switching, edited by W. H. Bostick ct. al. (New York, Plenum,

1976).

27. C. W. Mendel, Jr., and S. A. Goldstein, "A Fast-Opening Switch for Use in REB Diode

Experiments," J. Appl. Phys. 48, 1004 (1977).

28. K. R. Prestwich, "Harp, a Short Pulse, High Current Electron Beam Accelerator," IEEE

Trans. Nucl. Sci. NS-22. 975 (1975).

29. I. Smith "Liquid Dielectric Pulse Line Technology," Energy Storage, Compression, and

Switching. W. Bostick, V. Nardi, and O. Zuckcr, Eds. (New York, Plenum, 1976).
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30. K. D. Bergeron, "Equivalent Circuit Approach to Long Magnetically Insulated Transmission

Lines," J. Appl. Phys. 48, 3065 (1977).

31. K. D. Bergeron, "One and Two Species Equilibria for Magnetic Insulation in Coaxial

Geometry," Phys. Fluids 20, 688 (1977).

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32. K. D. Bergeron, "Relativistic Space-Charge Flow in a Magnetic Field," Appl. Phys. Lett. 27,

58 (1977).

33. K. D. Bergeron, "Theory of the Secondary Electron Avalence at Electrically Stressed

Insulator-Vacuum Interfaces." J. Appl. Phys. 48, 3073 (1977).

34. A. E. Blaugrund. G. Cooperstein, and S. Goldstein, "Relativistic Electron Beam Pinch

Formation Processes in Low Impedance Diodes," Phys. Fluids 20, 1185 (1977).

35. P. A. Miller, J. W. Poukey, and T. P. Wright, "Electron Beam Generation in Plasma-Filled

Diodes," Phys. Rev. Lett. 35, 940 (1975).

36. J. A. Pasour et. al., "Reflex Tetrode with Unidirectional Ion Flow," Phys. Rev. Lett. 40. 448

(1978).
278

DRIVER DEVELOPMENT II: PARTICLE BEAMS

37. J. W. Poukey, "Ion Effects in Relativistic Diodes," Appl. Phys. Lett. 25. 145 (1975).

38. J. W. Poukey. "Two-Dimensional Ion Effects in Relativistic Diodes." J. Vac. Sct. Technol. 12.

1214(1975).

39. J. P. Quintenz and J. W. Poukey. "Ion Current Reduction in Pinched Electron Beam Diodes."

J. Appl. Phys. 48, 2287 (1977).

40. D. W. Swain et al.. "Measurements of Large Ion Currents in a Pinched Relativistic Electron

Beam Diode." /. Appl Phys. 48. 118 (1977).

41. Yu. L Bakshaev and E. I. Baranchikov, "Transfer and Focusing of High-Current Relativistic

Electron Beams onto a Target," (IAEA-200. 1976) p.25

42. J. R. Greig, "Electrical Discharges Guided by Pulsed CO-2 Laser Radiation," Phys. Rev.

Lett. 41. 174(1978).

43. W. L. Johnson, G. B. Johnson, and J. T. Verdeyen, "Ion Bunching in Electronic Space-Charge

Regions." J. Appl. Phys. 47, 4442 (1976).

44. P. A. Miller, J. Chang, and G. W. Kuswa. "Electron Beam Concentration Enhanced by a

Laser-Produced Plasma," Appl Phys. Lett. 23, 423 (1973).

45. P. A. Miller et al, "Propagation of Pinched Electron Beams for Pellet Fusion," Phys. Rev.

Lett. 39, 92 (1977).

46. P. A. Miller and J. B. Gerardo, "Relativistic Electron Beam Propagation in High-Pressure

Gases," / Appl. Phys. 43, 3008 (1972).

47. G. Yonas et al.. "Electron Beam Focusing Using Current-Carrying Plasmas in High

nu/gamma Diodes," Phys. Rev. Lett. 30, 164 (1973).

48. Proc. ERDA Summer Study of Heavy Ion Fusion. Oakland/Berkeley. Lawrence Berkeley

Laboratory Report LBL-5543, July, 1976.

49. Proceedings of Brookhaven National Laboratory Heavy Ion Fusion Workshop. BNL-50769.

October, 1977.

50. Proceedings of Argonne National Laboratory Heavy Ion Fusion Workshop. ANL-79-41,

September, 1978.

51. Proceedings of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory/Stanford Linear Accelerator Heavy Ion

Fusion Workshop, LBL-10301, SLAC-PUB-2575. UC-28, CONF-7910122.

52. J. Schoonover and M. Levitt. "Heavy Ion Fusion." Fusion 24 (February. 1979).

53. Discussion of the principal components is taken largely from W. Hermannsfeldt. "The

Development of Heavy-Ion Accelerators as Drivers for Inertially Confined Fusion," Lawrence

Berkeley Laboratory Report LBL-9332, June, 1979.

54. This discussion of phase space considerations is taken from lectures by K. Symon. Depart-

ment of Physics, University of Wisconsin, to the University of Wisconsin Fusion Engineering

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Program Heavy Ion Beam Reactor Design Group. February, 1980.

55. J. Lawson, Particle Beam Acceleration (London, Oxford University Press. 1972).

56. P. Arnold, "Heavy Ion Beam InertiaI Confinement Fusion." Nature 276, 19 (1978).

57. J. Rosenblatt, Particle Acceleration (London, Mehtuen, 1968).

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58. E. Persico, E. Ferrari, and S. Segre. Principles of Particle Accelerators (New York, W. A.

Benjamin, 1968).

59. K. A. Brueckner, "An Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Drivers," K. A. Brueckncr

and Assoc.. EPRI Report AP-1371 Feb. 1980.

NINE

Target Design, Fabrication,

and Diagnostics

The design of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets is a rather transient

and uncertain endeavor since much of the physics underlying inertial confine-

ment fusion is not yet well established. The behavior of matter under such

extreme pressure and density conditions, the production and transport of hot

(suprathermal) electrons, and the effects of plasma instabilities on driver

energy deposition are all examples of unresolved physics problems that strongly

influence the design of ICF targets. Furthermore, some aspects of ICF target

design are classified because of their presumed relation to nuclear weapons

physics. With these physical and political constraints, any discussion of target

design can provide only a limited picture. However, in the spirit of complete-

ness, we attempt a brief review of those aspects of target design that have been

made available in the open literature.

Target designs can be classified according to driver type: lasers,1"31 electron

beams,32"39 light ion beams,40"45 and heavy ion beams. They can also be

distinguished by intended application: power production, physics experiments,

and military applications. Most effort to date has been directed at target

designs for physics experiments.8,9-16,l7-28 3138 44-46"50 Early designs (so-called

slab targets) were intended for the study of the interaction of intense laser or

charged particle beams with matter. More recent designs have emphasized

spherical targets designed for implosion experiments. Some reactor targets

have also been designed to study the viability of inertial confinement fusion as

a possible source of electric power.171018 41-46"50 Targets for military applica-

tions are used to study either nuclear weapons related physics or to simulate

blast and radiation effects. We will not dwell on this last application.

The target design procedure is strongly dependent on the intended applica-

tion. For example, in the design of targets for physics experiments, the designer

279
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280

TARGET DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND DIAGNOSTICS

takes as input the specific driver characteristics (e.g., energy, wavelength, and

temporal and spatial pulse distribution) and attempts to design a target with

the highest yield (or neutron production or other experimental characteristic)

subject to these driver constraints. The design of high gain targets for reactor

applications takes the desired target performance characteristics as given and

attempts to design targets to achieve these goals subject to the constraints of

anticipated driver development.

The primary tools in target design studies are hydrodynamic computer codes

that simulate the dynamics of an inertial confinement fusion target. We have

considered such codes in some detail in Chapter 6. However, for purposes of

reference here, we have provided a simple schematic of the essential physics

described by ICF hydrodynamics codes in Figure 9.1 (in this particular case,

for the LASNEX code51 developed at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory).

A variety of other more specialized computer codes are used in target design.

These include:

1. Plasma simulation codes to study the microscopic behavior of driver

energy deposition and energy transport mechanisms in target plasmas.

2. Fluid instability codes to study Rayleigh-Taylor instability growth.

3. Particle transport codes to describe the transport of suprathermal particles.

The complexity of target design calculations should not be underestimated.

For example, most high gain pellet designs are composed of multilayered shells

of different materials and densities. Furthermore there is strong dependence on

Figure 9.1. The physics included in a target design code (in this case, LASNEX).
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GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR TARGET DESIGN

281

the incident beam pulse shape, driver type (photons, electrons, or ions),

number and location of beams, focal spot size and spatial distribution of the

beam, and wavelength, polarization, or energy spread. By way of example, a

single one-dimensional LASNEX run may require from 30 to 120 min of

CDC-7600 time. Two-dimensional calculations require from one to many

hours of computer time. Hence it is essential for the target designer to begin

with simple estimates and back-of-the-envelope calculations whenever possible,

to learn as much about the design as possible before commiting to the expense

of a full-blown hydrodynamics simulation. The hydrodynamics simulation is

then used to "fine tune" the design. The number of simulations required

depends strongly on the proximity of the original guess to the final design.

ICF target design requires a high degree of artistry, intuition, and imagina-

tion. Designs are often as dependent on their designer as buildings are on their

architect.

9.1. GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR TARGET DESIGN

Despite the complex nature of actual target design, there are some simple

"rules of thumb" that provide the designer with useful guidelines. We consider

several such guidelines most suited for the design of high-gain reactor targets.

Fuel Loading. The complete combustion of deuterium-tritium fuel leads to

a specific yield of 340 MJ/mg. In a practical target design one can expect 30 to

50% of the fuel to burn, depending on its pR value and other features. Hence a

yield of 100 MJ requires a pellet fuel loading of about 1 mg of D-T.

pR Value. A pR value in the fuel of about 1 to 3 g/cm2 is required for

efficient thermonuclear burn. For 1 mg of D-T these pR values correspond to

compressions of 300 to 1600 times liquid density. The larger the pR value, the

more efficient the ICF burn—that is, the higher the burn fraction (see Figure

9.2). [Recall our earlier estimate of the burn fraction, fb = pR/(pR + 6.3).]

Figure 9.2. Fractional burnup of D-T fuel versus pR.

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282

TARGET DESIGN. FABRICATION, AND DIAGNOSTICS

Larger values of pR can be achieved by surrounding the fuel with a tamper

material.

Central Ignitors. The hot spot in the center of the fuel that ignites and

burns into the surrounding cold compressed D-T must have a pR value of at

least 0.5 g/cm2 and a temperature of 3 to 10 keV. For high gain, this hot spot

should correspond to a small fraction (<10%) of the fuel mass. The ignition

temperature may be reduced from 5-10 keV to about 3-4 keV by separating

the hot-spot fuel from the bulk fuel using a central ignitor or "spark-plug"

concept.52 In this design a small part of the fuel is contained in a high-Z shell

(see Figure 9.3). The main fuel layer and pusher are driven inward and

implode the central ignitor as well. All of the ignitor fuel is heated to ignition

conditions. The required ignition conditions can be reduced by surrounding

the ignitor with a high-Z tamper.7 52 To understand the function of this high-Z

layer, recall that the ignition condition is defined as that situation where the

fuel is being heated more rapidly than it can lose energy so that its temperature

increases. Reducing the energy loss rate causes the fuel to ignite at a lower

temperature. This can be done by surrounding the hot fuel with a high-Z

tamper that absorbs radiation that would otherwise be lost from the fuel.

Reradiation of this energy back into the fuel effectively traps this energy that

would have been lost and lowers the ignition temperature. This is very

important, since the ignition temperature is directly related to the final collapse

velocity of the fuel and thereby to the required driver energy.

Shock Sequencing. The final collapse velocity of the shock that raises the

hot spot temperature to ignition conditions must be about 2 to 3x 107 cm/s.

This must be achieved by timing the shock waves created in the fuel during the

implosion so that they all converge to the center near the instant of maximum

compression. This timing process is very difficult to achieve. However, proper

shock sequencing is essential for high gain, for it is through this process that

the energy required to ignite a small amount of fuel is minimized.

Gas

Fuel

Pusher

Ablator

Low-density,

Figure 93. An ICF target design having a

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central ignitor region and an outer fuel layer.

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GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR TARGET DESIGN

283

Implosion Velocity. The efficiency with which the fuel can be accelerated to

the required implosion velocity can be estimated using a simple analogy which

models the imploding fuel as a rocket.53 Let

m = rocket mass (fuel mass)

m0—initial mass

v = rocket speed (implosion speed)

v0 — exhaust speed (ablation speed)

We can now apply Newton's law to this process

dm

to solve for the speed

t> = unln —

Using this result, we can solve for the implosion efficiency as

xln2x m

Erf = — , x = —

1 —x m0

If we include thermal energy loss, then the efficiency is reduced to

_„ x\n2x

Eff = - f /, r

2.5 (\—x)

For good efficiency, x~0.1, we need v~2v0. But using our earlier estimate of

t>~3X107 cm/s, we find that the ablation velocity should be u0~1.5X107

cm/s. This implosion efficiency indicates that only about 10% of the driver

energy can ultimately end up in the fuel. One mg of mass traveling at a velocity

of 3X 107 cm/s has a kinetic energy of 45 kJ. Therefore, without accounting

for any other loss mechanisms such as the acceleration of nonfuel material, we

require 450 kJ of driver input energy. Of course this is not strictly correct

because not all of the fuel mass need be accelerated to 3X 107 cm/s to achieve

final shock velocities of 3X107 cm/s. This again demonstrates the desire to

have proper shock sequencing to achieve ignition.

Velocity Multiplication with Multiple-Shell Targets. Should the required

implosion velocity not be consistent with the power characteristics of the

driver, or if the driver pulse cannot be adequately shaped, then one can

multiply the implosion velocity by using multishell targets.7 15,32,35 This works
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284

TARGET DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND DIAGNOSTICS

just like the collision of two billiard balls. That is, if the outer shell has a mass

H times greater than the inner shell, then the maximum velocity multiplication

of the inner shell which occurs when the outer shell collides with it is

2u

velocity multiplication = ^

The implosion efficiency then becomes

Eff=

(1+M)

Such designs could be advantageous for drivers that are capable of delivering

large amounts of energy but at low power levels (such as ion beams). In

multishell targets care must be taken to ensure an elastic collision between the

shells. This is usually accomplished by introducing a gas between the shells.

This gas is heated to high temperature as the shells collide and smooths the

collision process. Furthermore, the collision process between the two shells can

be programmed to achieve a pressure profile on the inner shell that matches

the one needed for isentropic compression.54 This can be accomplished with an

unshaped pulse of energy applied to the outer shell by the driver.

Driver Energy Deposition. To generate the desired implosion velocity of

3X 107 cm/s, we require about 20 MJ/g of specific energy deposition in the

target. This is roughly the specific kinetic energy of matter at a velocity of

3X107 cm/s. Hence we assume that the ablator must be blown off at a

velocity that is roughly the same as the implosion velocity. This is certainly the

case, for the rocket efficiency of the implosion is drastically reduced for

ablation velocities that are much smaller than the implosion velocity. Therefore

the range of the driver particles must be such that this specific energy can be

produced for reasonable driver energies. We require a driver energy ED

£D=(20MJ/g) (4<nR2)\P

where A is the driver particle range and p is the mass density of the absorption

zone. We can solve for

PT IT

4vR2T (20 MJ/g) (20 MJ/g)

where P is the average power of the driver pulse, T is the pulse length, and / is

the intensity. If we require about 1014 W/cm2 in intensity to effectively

implode the target, and the pulse length is about 20 ns, then the driver energy
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deposition range must be about Ap~ 100 mg/cm2. This is roughly the range of

light and heavy ions in cold matter. The situation is a bit more complex for
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MAJOR CONSTRAINTS IN TARGET DESIGN

285

laser drivers. Here the range of the hot electrons generated by the laser-target

interaction is a better estimate than the range of the laser photons. From this

argument, we can see the possible advantages of short wavelength lasers over

long wavelength lasers, even if the absorption efficiencies are the same.

Although the hot electron temperature is a weak function of the laser wave-

length

7 hot AL

the electron range scales essentially as rh2ot so that

This increase in range with laser wavelength makes the 20 MJ/g criterion more

difficult to achieve for longer wavelength lasers.

Driver Pulse Shape. A final very important aspect of target design is the

driver pulse shape. Simple theory shows that the "ideal" power profile for the

achievement of isentropic compression of a hollow shell is given by 54

P(l)= P°

[i-(</02]

5/2

where tc is the collapse time. In more sophisticated target designs with tampers

and multiple shells, this exact form is not applicable. However, in general we

desire a pulse that starts at low power and increases to high power at the time

of collapse. The initial low power phase of the pulse helps to avoid driving

shock waves into the cold target and preheating the fuel while the high power

finale brings the final collapse velocity up to 3X 107 cm/s for ignition.

With these general rules of thumb, the target designer can arrive at some

idea of the relations between target size, fuel mass, and driver input energy.

But this does not complete the story of target design. Added to these general

considerations are a number of very important and very troublesome con-

straints.

9.2. MAJOR CONSTRAINTS IN TARGET DESIGN

9.2.1. RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY

When we try to compress a low density fuel (such as D-T) with a high density

tamper shell, we can encounter a fluid instability known as the Rayleigh-Taylor

instability. (See Chapter 3 for a more detailed discussion.)55"62 In the pellet

implosion process, the acceleration force can cause the boundary between the

heavier tamper shell and the lighter fuel to become unstable. This is most

important when the fuel and tamper begin to decelerate as the fuel reaches its
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286 TARGET DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND DIAGNOSTICS

final stages of compression just before ignition. At this point the larger inertial

force of the heavy tamper material can result in jets of high-Z material

streaming into the fuel. This can destroy the ignition process much in the same

way that high-Z impurities are detrimental to magnetic fusion plasmas. There-

fore a rule of thumb can be established that states that the target should be

designed to ignite before the 'free-fall" line of the tamper-fuel interface reaches

the hot spot radius. Hence ignition must occur before this time. Even if

ignition does occur, this mixing of impurities with the fuel can degrade the

efficiency of the thermonuclear burn (i.e., the fractional burnup).

The Rayleigh-Taylor instability can limit the allowable aspect ratio R/AR of

the target shells. That is, very thin-walled targets tend to be more susceptible to

the instabilities. The instability grows most rapidly for large density differences

at shell interfaces, for large accelerations, and for short wavelength dis-

turbances. However, very short wavelength disturbances quickly grow out of

the linear instability regime. It is found that the most serious instabilities are

those that occur at wavelengths comparable to the shell thickness, for these do

not saturate before becoming disruptive. Detailed analysis leads to the conclu-

sion that aspect ratios of no greater than /?/A/?~-10 should be used for

compressed shells. This in itself does not guarantee that a stable implosion is

possible, but it does generally help to mitigate instability problems by creating

density gradients that are longer than the instability wavelengths. Another

helpful design feature is to avoid placing high and low density shells adjacent

to one another. So-called low-Z pushers are useful for this purpose where a

high-Z-impregnated plastic (e.g., TaCOH) with a density of about 1 g/cm3 is

used as a pusher next to the fuel rather than a high-Z material with a density

greater than 15 g/cm3.

Fluid instabilities are an extremely important concern in the implosion

process and must not be underestimated by the target designer. Their presence

(or absence) remains a crucial unanswered question regarding the viability of

inertial confinement fusion.

9.2.2. FUEL PREHEAT

A second important design constraint is fuel preheat.27 We saw in Chapter 3

that the work that is needed to compress the D-T fuel depends on the isentrope

along which the compression occurs. If the fuel is initially preheated by some

mechanism (such as hot electrons or photons generated by the driver beam

deposition in the outer layers of the target or premature shocking by an

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unshaped driver pulse), then more work is required to reach the same final

pressure. To avoid this problem, the fuel must be isolated from these hot

particles. This often determines the thickness of the fuel tamper or the use of a

double shell target to further reduce the flux of hot particles incident on the
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fuel. For high gain targets, only a few eV temperature in the fuel is allowed in

the initial stages of the implosion.52 This corresponds to a specific energy of

about 104 J/g for D-T. For 1 mg of D-T this represents only 10 J or about one
SPECIFIC TARGET DESIGNS

287

part in 105 of the input energy. Therefore we can easily see the sensitivity of

the target performance to preheat.

9.2.3. TARGET FABRICABILITY

Another practical constraint on target design is the ability to fabricate the

target. It is easy for a computer code to mathematically levitate concentric

shells within one another, but it is quite another matter to build such a target.

For reactor applications this fabrication process must be automated to the

point where tens of targets per second can be produced at a cost of a few cents

apiece. Levitation may be achieved in practice by mounting the inner shell on a

very thin film or spokes. The designer must be sensitive to these facts when

designing targets for future applications.

9.3. SPECIFIC TARGET DESIGNS

Much of our discussion in earlier chapters has been confined to a theoretical

analysis of the implosion of either solid or shell D-T targets. Many early

studies of laser fusion assumed solid spheres of D-T.1-3,27 Although such pellets

would be straightforward to fabricate, they would require very high power

levels in excess of 1000 TW for high gain. Furthermore, it is now clear that

such targets are unrealistic from the point of view of beam coupling and

symmetry requirements. In most experimental work to date, the targets have

been glass shells containing D-T gas at high pressure. As time goes on, targets

are becoming more and more complex in order to achieve the desired perfor-

mance.

9.3.1. GLASS MICROBALLOON TARGETS

The glass microballoon target, consisting of a single thin walled glass shell

containing about 30 atm of D-T gas, has been the primary workhorse of the

laser fusion experimental program since the first successful neutron bearing

shots at KMS Fusion in 1974. This target is probably the best understood and

characterized design in inertial confinement fusion research. A schematic of

the dynamics of a typical glass microballoon target is shown in Figure 9.4.

These targets behave in an exploding pusher mode.63 That is, the incident laser

light deposits energy so rapidly in the glass shell that it explodes, half inward,

half outward. The imploding shell half acts as a piston, driving a shock ahead

of it into the D-T fuel that compresses and heats the fuel.

For the highest neutron yields the glass microballoon target is irradiated

with a high power, very short laser pulse. The target dynamics are very
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different than the ideal isentropic compression described as the ultimate goal

of inertial confinement fusion in earlier chapters. In fact the fuel is shock

heated to a high isentrope and compressed to rather low densities. However,

this combination of high ion temperature and low density corresponded to the
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optimum neutron yield conditions for early laser systems.

288 TARGET DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND DIAGNOSTICS

Figure 9.4. A schematic of the dynamics of a glass microballoon target behaving in

the "exploding pusher" mode, (a) Short pulse of laser light incident on the target, (b)

Hot electron generation and transport throughout the target, (c) "Explosion" of the

glass shell, half moving outward and half moving inward, (d) Compression and heating

of the DT fuel to TN temperatures.

We noted in Chapter 5 that the absorption of short, high power laser pulses

is dominated by resonance absorption over the classical inverse bremsstrahlung

absorption. This occurs because of the rapid heating of the underdense plasma

corona and density profile modification by the incident laser light pressure.

The fractional absorption for inverse bremsstrahlung scales as

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SPECIFIC TARGET DESIGNS

2XV

where L is the scale height of the density gradient and Te is the electron

temperature. Hence it is apparent that the efficiency of inverse bremsstrahlung

drops markedly with increasing temperature and shorter scale heights. By way

of contrast, the fractional absorption characterizing the resonance absorption

process scales as

Hence a small value of L (L ~ 1 fim) is required for good resonance absorption

efficiency, and the ponderomotive forces at the critical density surface provide

this kind of profile. The large fraction of absorbed energy by resonance

absorption leads to the formation of suprathermal electrons characterized by a

temperature

These energetic electrons have very long collisional mean free paths in com-

parison to target dimensions. In essence, they swarm about and through the

target like bees in a hive. They are confined from escaping the target by the

electrostatic potential that is built up once a few have escaped. These hot

electrons lose energy in the glass shell surrounding the fuel, very rapidly

heating it almost isothermally. This causes the glass shell to explode (i.e., the

"exploding" pusher target) with roughly half of the mass traveling inward and

the remainder traveling outward. Exploding pusher targets designed for opti-

mum neutron yield require that the laser pulse rise to its peak power in a time

that is short compared to the explosion of the shell. This generates a tremendous

acceleration of the shell-fuel interface and drives a strong shock wave into the

fuel ahead of the converging interface. This process places the fuel on a high

isentrope. The subsequent compression of the fuel by the inward directed glass

shell debris is nearly isentropic. The initial shock and the following pdV work

preferentially heat the ions.

The coupling and partitioning of the laser light energy into the glass

microballoon target is quite poor. Only about 20 to 40% of the incident laser

light is absorbed, and most of this appears in the form of hot electrons. About

50% of the absorbed energy appears eventually as "fast" ions and escapes the

target on the time scale of the laser pulse. This represents a pure loss term that

must be added to the reflected laser light. The remainder of the energy in hot

electrons couples to the pusher and fuel at an efficiency of about 50% so that

only 250 J of the absorbed 1000 J is available for useful work. Of the total

absorbed energy, about 4 to 5% appears as thermal fuel ion energy. This is not

a bad value for the hydrodynamic coupling efficiency. However, the very poor
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effective absorption efficiency and coupling to hydrodynamic motion means

that such targets are ill-suited for high gain applications. Furthermore, they do

not address either of the two critical design issues for high gain targets, fuel

Thot~T„c + 3X\O-6{lL\\)
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0.425
290

TARGET DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND DIAGNOSTICS

preheat and hydrodynamic instabilities. The fuel is severely preheated, by

design, and the implosion is stable because the pusher is actually decom-

pressing rather than compressing.

On the positive side, exploding pusher targets offer several advantages at

this early stage in the experimental program. They are relatively easy to

fabricate and are amenable to analysis using existing theoretical models. Their

implosion characteristics can be thoroughly studied using X-ray, ion, and

neutron diagnostics. Therefore glass microballoon targets offer a good oppor-

tunity to compare computer code predictions with experimental results. This

has been vital to the understanding of laser light interaction with matter,

thermal electron transport inhibition, and fast electron generation and trans-

port. These targets are simple enough that relatively straightforward theories

can be used to accurately predict the neutron yield.64,65

While the glass microballoon does not really meet the requirements of a

design suitable for high gain, it does provide a good example of how target

design has had to conform to the available driver and target fabrication

capabilities. The present generations of laser and ion beam drivers in the

multikilojoule energy range are large enough to implode more complex targets

that have many of the characteristics of high-gain reactor targets. Ablator

layers of plastic can be added to the glass microballoon to study ablatively

driven implosions. It is this type of target that has led to the high compressions

achieved with current laser systems.

9.3.2. HIGH GAIN LASER FUSION TARGETS

High gain targets must be designed to implode via the adiabatic ablation

process described in Chapters 2 and 3. Several high gain target designs are

compared with the simple glass microballoon target in Figure 9.5.

Of particular interest are high gain target designs with multiple fuel regions.

In Figure 9.6 we show a target consisting of an outer shell with a LiH ablator,

a TaCOH pusher region, and D-T fuel, levitated at an aspect ratio of about 3

to 5.66 The densities of the ablator and pusher are matched to help avoid fluid

instabilities. Although the densities are matched, these materials have different

properties. The high-Z impregnated plastic (TaCOH) has a higher opacity and

electron stopping power than a low Z material with similar density. This

tailoring of material properties is an important part of target design. These

materials also meet the requirements of fabricability and surface finish quality.
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Inside of this outer shell is levitated a smaller gold capsule containing D-T fuel.

This is the central ignitor or "spark-plug" region referred to in our discussion

of Section 9.1. The implosion dynamics of this target can be summarized as

follows: Laser light is absorbed in the LiH ablator, thus imploding the pusher
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and D-T fuel down onto the central ignitor. The ignitor then implodes to

ignition conditions. These ignition conditions are minimized by the gold layer

which traps the X rays generated in the hot D-T fuel, thus lowering the ignition

temperature to 3 to 4 keV. The ignitor explodes and ignites the inner surface of
1000)" liquid densiiy Significant thermonuclear burn

I500-1000uml 1500-1000uml

Figure 9.5. Various laser fusion target designs. (Courtesy of Lawrence Livermore

Laboratory.)

Figure 9.6.

fuel region.

A comparison of multiple shell target designs with and without an outer

291
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292

TARGET DESIGN. FABRICATION, AND DIAGNOSTICS

the D-T fuel that has been crushed down around it. This double shell design

allows lower final shock velocities because of the central ignitor. Furthermore,

velocity multiplication between the shells allows the implosion velocity of the

outer shell to be reduced to 1.4 X 107 cm/s. Therefore, twice as much fuel may

be imploded to one-third the density for the same amount of energy as would

be required to implode the fuel at 2X 107 cm/s. Through velocity multiplica-

tion, the inner fuel capsule is accelerated to 2X 107 cm/s. The pR value of the

fuel is roughly 3 g/cm2 at ignition.

This highly efficient utilization of the input laser energy results in very high

gains. For input energy of 4 MJ of 0.2 fim laser light in a shaped pulse, the

target gain is calculated to be about 1000. Two significant problems associated

with this target are the mixing of the outer fuel with the gold ignitor shell and

the fabrication of the target. The mixing would make the ignition of the outer

fuel more difficult. Of course, if ignition did not occur, then the target gain

would be minimal. Fabrication difficulties will be important for such double-

shelled targets. The degree of difficulty and hence the cost of the target

manufacturing will depend on the surface finish required and the allowable

methods of levitating the ignitor capsule. Any support structure such as thin

film or spokes between the shells must meet the test of fluid instability

analysis.

A high gain ion beam driven target is shown in Figure 9.7.39,41-67 This is a

simple single shell target with an aspect ratio of 10. The shells consist of a Pb

tamper, a TaCOH ablator/pusher and a frozen D-T fuel layer. The driver ions

9.3.3. HIGH GAIN ION BEAM TARGETS

Tamper p = 11.3 (72.1 mg)

Pusher p = 1.26 (16.8 mg)

Fuel p = 0.21 (1.00 mg)

0.20000 cm

0 19004 cm

0.22360 cm

0.23333 cm

Figure 9.7. A high gain ion beam driven target.

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SPECIFIC TARGET DESIGNS

293

are stopped in the Pb tamper and TaCOH pusher. Note that the range of the

6.5 MeV protons assumed as driver in this design is about 120 mg/cm2, and

that they are preferentially stopped in the low density pusher due to the Bragg

peak in the stopping formula (see Chapter 5). The pulse duration is about 20

ns with a low initial power to avoid shocking the cold fuel onto a high

isentrope. It rises to a maximum power of 2.4 X1014 W or an intensity of

approximately 3.5 X1014 W/cm2. The pulse energy is 1.3 MJ. The Pb shell

serves as an inertial tamper to improve the implosion efficiency. Hence the

implosion in this case is more analogous to a bullet fired from a gun than to a

rocket. These somewhat different implosion dynamics are shown as a radius

versus time plot in Figure 9.8. Such plots are generally produced from target

design codes using computer generated graphics to help the designer visualize

the implosion process.

In the implosion of this target, the pusher-fuel interface starts inward very

slowly for the first 15 ns of the pulse and then accelerates to high velocity in

the final 8 ns. The maximum compression occurs at about 23 ns when the

interface is driven inward to a radius of 0.015 cm. This corresponds to a D-T

density of 68 g/cm3 and a fuel pR value of about 1 g/cm2. To this is added a

pusher pR value of about 1 g/cm2 for a total inertial confinement pR

parameter of 2 g/cm2, enough to allow efficient thermonuclear burning. The

target yield is 88 MJ in this particular design, representing a D-T fractional

burnup of 25%.

In this target, the bulk of the fuel is compressed along an isentrope that

comes very close to following the Fermi degeneracy line. However, the inner

Pusher-tamper interface

10

Time (ns)

Figure 9.8. Radius as a function of time for pusher-tamper and fuel-pusher interfaces

for ion beam target.

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294 TARGET DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND DIAGNOSTICS

Table 9.1.

Ion Energy Corresponding to a

Range of 100 mg/cnr

Ion Type

Ion Energy (MeV)

He

40

Ne

400

Fe

2000

8000

edge of the fuel is initially decompressed into the central void until it reaches

the center. It then reflects until it collides with the still solid fuel and reflects

back inward. These multiple reflections heat the fuel to a higher isentrope. This

inner fuel (a small fraction of the total) is then compressed isentropically, but

starting at high temperature and lower density. All of the fuel is then

compressed until the central part ignites.

Target designs of this type have several significant advantages. The single

shell design should be more easy to fabricate than multishell designs. The low

pusher density ameliorates the problems of pusher-fuel mixing due to fluid

instabilities. The gain of roughly 100 for a few megajoules of input energy

should be quite acceptable for high efficiency (25%) ion beam drivers. Al-

though this specific design is for 6.5 MeV protons, the generic design concept

is applicable to all types of ions. The ion energy must, of course, be determined

by the range of the ions. Heavier ions must be incident at higher energy to

achieve the same range. Table 9.1 indicates that 6-MeV protons correspond

roughly to the same energy deposition characteristics as 8-GeV uranium ions.

We should note a significant problem with the design of almost all such ion

beam targets. These designs are quite sensitive to the uniformity of the beam

illumination. This occurs because the ions deposit their energy quite deeply in

the target (compared to laser drivers). Hence there is little room for lateral

thermal conduction to smooth the energy transfer between the energy deposi-
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tion region and the ablation front.

9.3.4. TARGET GAIN CURVES

Target designs are usually quite unique and depend strongly on the particular

driver used (and the target designer). However, once a design has been
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completed, it can be scaled in principle to arbitrary size while holding certain

intrinsic quantities constant. These quantities are the specific energy deposition

e and the focused intensity /max. The rules of thumb discussed earlier in this

chapter gave these quantities as roughly 20 MJ/g and 1014 W/cm2, respec-

tively. If targets were only described by hydrodynamic phenomena (and not

other processes such as suprathermal electron transport), then they could be

SPECIFIC TARGET DESIGNS

295

scaled to arbitrary size according to the proportionalities

energy: £~r3

power: P~r2

range: R~r

time: t~r

However, this scaling is not strictly true because of transport processes during

the implosion and the rate of thermonuclear reactions as a function of

temperature and density. The target gain is therefore not independent of input

energy. For this reason several point designs of the same generic target design

must be performed to establish so-called gain curves. Such gain curves are

show in Figure 9.9. Two different types of targets are displayed in this figure.

The high performance double-shell design is similar to the high gain laser-driven

target described earlier. The single shell design is similar to the ion beam

target. Note that at low enough energies, below 400 kJ, the single shell design

out-performs the double shell design, while at high input energies the double

shell design is superior.

Input energy (J)

Figure 9.9. Target gain versus driver energy.

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2% TARGET DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND DIAGNOSTICS

Table 9.2. Assumptions in Target Gain Calculations

Parameter

Theoretical Limit

Conservative

Absorption

100%

80%

Ablation efficiency

~ 10% (LASNEX)

~ 10% (LASNEX)

Transport inhibition

None

None

Fast ion losses

Negligible

Negligible

Entropy of compressed matter

Fermi limit

Fermi limit

Preheat

Not significant

Not significant

Pulse shaping

Optimum

Optimum

Asymmetries/fluid instabilities

No effect

No effect

Ignition efficiency

100% (LASNEX)

50% (LASNEX)

Propagation/burn efficiency

LASNEX

70% (LASNEX)

The band labeled "conservative" is derived from the double shell results.

The difference between the double shell line and the band is due to uncertainty
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in the calculation. These uncertainties are listed in Table 9.2. In effect, the

amount of energy required to reach ignition conditions is assumed to be twice

the value predicted by the target design code. Furthermore, once the target is

ignited, it is assumed that the yield is only about 70% of that predicted by the
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codes. These two "fudge factors" are an attempt to bring the code predictions

into closer agreement with reality. In fact, target implosions are not one-

dimensional as modeled in these calculations—or even two-dimensional—but

rather three-dimensional. Perfectly isentropic compression is also only an ideal,

and there will surely be some energy loss through fast ions or electrons in the

absorption region. Once the fuel has ignited, it will not burn with the

theoretical efficiency because of asymmetries and mixing of the fuel and the

surrounding pusher material. Therefore the best guess on target gain is

generally taken to be these conservative curves. These curves are also specific

to short wavelength laser and ion beam drivers. Each of these drivers is

expected to efficiently couple energy into the target (assuming 80% absorption

efficiency). For drivers with lower coupling efficiency, such as long wavelength

lasers, one must hope that the "allowances" for the conservative gain band are

not so pessimistic, and that these high efficiency energy sources will actually

perform nearer to their theoretical limits. This would then imply that there is

sufficient room for degradation to allow drivers with lower coupling efficiency

to provide interesting results.

9.4. TARGET DIAGNOSTICS

The physical processes occurring during the implosion of an inertial confine-

ment fusion target are characterized by length scales of 10 to 100 /im and time

scales of 10 ps to 10 ns. ICF target implosions are also characterized by

exceptionally high energy densities (10 MJ/g) and driver power intensities

(1015 W/cm2). Hence it should be apparent that the development of diagnostic

TARGET DIAGNOSTICS

297

methods suitable for monitoring the dynamical behavior of inertial confine-

ment fusion targets presents a very significant challenge.68,69

The length and time scales characterizing the dynamics of ICF targets

eliminate the possibility of using many of the diagnostic methods employed in

magnetic fusion research, such as placing physical probes or detectors into the

target. In inertial confinement fusion experiments, most attention is placed on

the emission of radiation or reaction products from the target, although limited

use can be made of probe beams in some situations. The primary emission

signatures of interest include electromagnetic radiation at all wavelengths,

from the infrared to the visible to the ultraviolet and X-ray regions; charged

particles arising from the blowoff plasma (fast ions), fusion reaction products,

and energetic electrons produced by the driver-target interaction; and neutrons

produced in fusion reactions (primarily D-T reactions) in the fuel core of the

target. Light beams can also be used as probes to infer information about the

driver-target interaction process, for example, via holographic or interferomet-

ric techniques.

In a general sense, ICF experiments seek to determine the spatial and

temporal behavior of the target during the implosion process, with particular

Figure 9.10. A schematic of the instrumentation of the SHIVA target chamber.

(Courtesy of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.)

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298

TARGET DESIGN. FABRICATION, AND DIAGNOSTICS

attention given to energy transfer and transformation processes (e.g., driver-

target interaction, hydrodynamic compression, and fusion yield). Such experi-

ments play the key role in determining and studying the various physical

processes occurring during the implosion process. They are also invaluable in

providing data to "calibrate" computer code models that are used in target

design. (See Figure 9.10).

9.4.1. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS ON ICF TARGET

DIAGNOSTICS

We have noted that the implosion dynamics of an ICF target can be analyzed

by considering three different regions of the target. In the outer layers of the

target, driver energy deposition and plasma blowoff are of primary interest. In

the region between the energy deposition and the ablation surface, energy

transport via thermal conduction or radiation transport are the dominant

processes. And, finally, in the central fuel core of the target, hydrodynamic

compression and thermonuclear burn are the processes of major concern.

Each of these various energy transport and transformation processes must

be studied experimentally. The particular diagnostic method used will differ

from region to region in the target (driver deposition corona, ablation zone,

implosion core) because of the large variations in conditions such as density

and temperature. (See Figure 9.11.)

Since the plasma corona is underdense, it can be probed with optical

methods. One of the more successful methods for studying the corona regions

involves classical optical techniques such as interferometry and polarimetry.70-75

The corona densities and gradients demand a probe wavelength in the visible

or ultraviolet. However, this can be obtained by frequency multiplication of

driver laser beams such as Nd laser light at 1.06 /im. As the probe beam is

passed transversely through the corona plasma, its phase and polarization are

modified by the refractive index of the plasma. Interferometry can then be

— Fully ionized pusher

glass shell, ~ 1024 e/cc

Compressed fuel

D-T plus seed,

1022-1024 e/cc

Figure 9.11. Various regions of interest in target diagnostics.

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TARGET DIAGNOSTICS

299

used to infer the plasma density profile. Considerable information concerning

the corona region can also be obtained by analyzing the transmitted, back-

scattered, or refracted components of the incident driver beam. X-ray and

charged particle emission measurements76"80 can also be used to infer the

presence of suprathermal electron generation in the corona region.

The ablation zone between the critical surface and the ablation surface is

overdense, with electron densities in the 10 23 to 1024 e/cm3 range. Such

densities require X-ray wavelengths to be above cutoff. Furthermore, in many

target designs (such as glass microballoons), photoelectric absorption can be

strong. Hence X rays in the 1- to 10-keV range (1 to 10 A) are most useful for

studying this region. In exploding pusher targets, the pusher material is heated

to sufficient temperatures (several keV) to produce strong X-ray emission.

These X rays can then be used for diagnostic purposes. For example, time-

integrated measurements can be made with X-ray pinhole cameras to de-

termine the spatial distribution of the emission. X-ray streak cameras can

measure the temporal dependence of the emission. Both techniques can be

combined to obtain space-time information on the implosion process.

While X-ray emission is a valuable diagnostic in exploding pusher targets,

the lower temperatures occurring in ablative (isentropic implosion) targets

significantly reduces the emission of keV X rays. Hence diagnostic X-rays must

be provided by an external or secondary source. One scheme involves using a

secondary target that can be driven to higher temperatures to produce an

intense X-ray source to illuminate ("backlight") the ablative target. These X

rays then pass through the primary target, serving as an incoherent X-ray

probe. Transmission can then serve to characterize the target configuration

during implosion.

The dynamics of the very high density, compressed fuel core of the target

occurs on the time scale of 10 to 100 ps. Of most use in providing data on the

core dynamics have been the measurement of reaction products (alpha par-

ticles and neutrons) and the measurements of the X-ray line widths from

high-Z seed atoms in the fuel region. Neutron yield can provide information

on the degree of thermonuclear burn. Zone plate coded imaging using alpha

particles can provide density measurements.76 Both density and density-radius

information can be provided by spatially resolving Stark broadened X-ray line

emission from high-Z seed atoms such as argon or neon. As experiments with
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high yield target designs are performed, additional diagnostic tools such as

neutron activation and thermonuclear induced K-shell vacancy techniques

provide valuable information.

9.4.2. DIAGNOSTICS BASED ON THE EMISSION OF

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ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION

The electromagnetic radiation emitted (or reflected) from an ICF target can

range in wavelength from the infrared to the hard X-ray region. Such emission

provides important information on the target dynamics, the energy balance

300 TARGET DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND DIAGNOSTICS

and transformation within the target, and the driver-target interaction phe-

nomena.

Of particular interest in laser fusion experiments is the amount of incident

light absorbed or reflected by the target. Incident or reflected beam intensities

can be measured by calorimeters. For example, one can divert a portion of the

incident beam into calorimeters to measure the incident beam intensity.

Calorimeters can also be placed about the target to measure the reflected or

scattered light. Of particular use are spheroidal mirror geometries that can

collect both forward scattered and backscattered light over large solid angles

and focus this light into calorimeters. Filters can be placed in front of the

calorimeters to restrict measurements to the wavelength of the incident beam,

or to examine harmonic emission of incident light (for example, at 2 « or

3/2 u).

Another valuable diagnostic tool involves measurements of soft X rays (100

eV to 5 keV) emitted by the target. To study the target implosion process,

various methods are used to image the X rays. X-ray pinhole cameras provide

time-integrated measurements of the spatial distribution of the X-ray source

(and hence direct information on compression and implosion symmetry).

However, pinhole cameras are restricted to small solid angles. Hence for high

resolution, the cameras must be placed close to the target, limiting the lifetime

of the pinhole to several shots. Fresnel zone plate imaging allows larger solid

angles and better resolution, but the analysis of the FZP data is complex, and

once again the measurements must be performed close to the target. X-ray

telescopes and microscopies (such as the Wolter or Kirkpatrick-Baez types) can

be placed far from the target. However, these are difficult to fabricate and

align.

Photon energy, keV

Figure 9.12. A schematic of X-ray spectra from a glass microballoon target. (Courtesy

of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.)

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REFERENCES

301

The spectral resolution of X-ray emission provides information on target

temperatures and the presence of suprathermal electrons. (See Figure 9.12.)

The most common technique is to use filters based on using the absorption

edges of various elements as bandpass filters. By using several filters, one can

cover the spectrum of interest. The filters can be placed in front of various

sensing devices, including metal diodes, scintillator-photomultiplier tubes, or

other imaging devices. More detailed spectral resolution can be obtained with

X-ray spectrometers based on crystal diffraction methods. Slits can be used to

obtain spatial resolution, and streak camera methods can be used to provide

both spectral and temporal resolution.

The measurement of hard X rays provides information concerning the

presence of suprathermal electrons. Filters can be placed in front of fluorescent

foils to provide signals for a scintillator-PM tube. Magnetic fields are used to

reject charged particle debris from the target.

9.4.3. DIAGNOSTIC METHODS BASED ON PARTICLE

EMISSION

ICF targets will emit a variety of energetic particles during the implosion and

thermonuclear burn process. During the driver beam absorption and implosion

process, ions and electrons will be accelerated in the blowoff plasma. The

burning thermonuclear fuel will produce reaction products such as alpha

particles and fast neutrons. These particles can provide valuable information

about the target dynamics.

The detection of fast ions can provide information concerning the driver-

target interaction and the presence of thermal conduction inhibition in the

ablation region. A variety of methods can be used to measure the ion spectrum

including Thomson Parabola methods, electrostatic deflection, magnetic

analyzers, or time of flight measurements. Fresnel zone plate methods can be

used to provide spatial resolution of the ion source.

A host of methods are available for the detection and analysis of fast

neutrons emitted by the burning thermonuclear fuel of the target. Time of

flight methods and fast scintillators can be used to measure the neutron energy

spectrum. The neutron yield can be measured by activation techniques, such as

Cu/Ag activation or Si activation within the target.

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65. E. K. Storm. J. T. Larsen, J. H. Nuckolls. H. G. Ahlstrom. K. R. Manes. "A Simple Scaling

Model for Exploding Pusher Targets." UCRL-79788.

66. Reference 47. pp. 4-15 to 4-19, See also Ref. 7.

67. Reference 48, pp. 4-44 to 4-46, See also Ref. 37.

68. L. W. Coleman, "Fusion Target Diagnostics," Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report

UCRL-81099, presented at the ANL-AUA Faculty Institute on Inertial Confinement Fusion,

Argonne National Laboratory (1978).

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69. D. T. Attwood, "Diagnostics for the Laser Fusion Program —Plasma Physics on the Scale of

Microns and Picoseconds." IEEE J. Quantum Electron. QE-14. 909 (1978).

70. D. Kania, private communication.

71. V. W. Slivinsky et al., "Measurement of the Ion Temperature in Laser-Driven Fusion," Phys.
Creative Commons Attribution / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#cc-by

Rev. Lett. 35, 1083 (1975).

72. N. M. Ceglio and L. W. Coleman, "Spatially Resolved Emission from Laser Fusion Targets,"

Phys. Rev. Lett. 39, 20 (1977).

73. D. W. Sweeney, D. T. Attwood. and L. W. Coleman. "Intcrferometric Probing of Laser

Produced Plasmas." Appl. Opt. 15, 1126 (1976).

74. J. A. Stamper, E. A. McLean, and B. H. Ripin, "Studies of Spontaneous Magnetic Fields in

Laser Produced Plasmas by Faraday Rotation," Phys. Rev. Lett. 40, 1177 (1978).

75. V. W. Slivinsky, H. N. Kornblum, and H. D. Shay. "Determination of Suprathermal Electron

Distributions in Laser Produced Plasmas," J. Appl. Phys. 46, 1973 (1975).

REFERENCES

305

76. N. M. Ceglio. D. T. Altwood, and E. V. George, "Zone Plate Coded Imaging of Laser

Produced Plasmas," J. Appl. Phys. 48. 1566 (1977).

77. R. A. Lerche et al.. "Laser Fusion Ion Temperatures Determined by Neutron Time-of-Flight

Techniques," Appl. Phys. Lett. 31, 645 (1977).

78. B. Yaakobi, D. Steel, E. Thoros, A. Hauer, and B. Perry. "Direct Measurement of Compres-

sion of Laser-Imploded Targets using X-ray Spectroscopy," Phys. Rev. Lett. 39. 1526 (1977).

79. H. G. Ahlstrom. "Progress of Laser Fusion at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory." Lawrence

Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-82835 Rev. 1 (1979).

80. N. M. Ceglio and L. W. Coleman, "Spatially Resolved Alpha Emission from Laser Fusion

Targets," Phys. Rev. Lett. 39, 20 (1977).

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TEN

Applications

Inertial confinement fusion research has expanded quite rapidly along several

fronts during the past decade. A primary goal has been to demonstrate

scientific breakeven for ICF targets, that is, to create that situation in which

the fusion energy yield is equal to or greater than the incident driver energy. A

summary of experimental programs (both achieved and under development) is

provided in Table 10.1. This table suggests that drivers capable of achieving

breakeven should become available by the mid to late 1980s. Hence it is

appropriate that we look beyond these break-even experiments to identify

possible applications of inertial confinement fusion.

We can identify three general classes of applications of inertial confinement

fusion: (1) power production. (2) weapons applications, and (3) fundamental

physics studies. Certainly the most significant application of ICF will be to the

production of energy which can then be used for a variety of purposes such as

the generation of electricity,12 the production of process heat or synthetic

fuels,3 or propulsion.4 Unfortunately, it appears that this will also be the most

difficult application to achieve. Nevertheless we concern ourselves almost

entirely with the energy production applications of ICF in this chapter.

On a shorter term basis, much of the funding for ICF research has been

directed toward military applications.5"7 The environment created by the

implosion and thermonuclear burn of a tiny ICF fuel pellet is similar in many

respects to that of a thermonuclear weapon. Hence there has been considerable

interest in using ICF targets to simulate on a microscopic scale weapons

physics and effects.

Perhaps the most immediate application of ICF will be in basic physics

studies. The imploded ICF pellet produces conditions of temperature and

pressure which are quite unusual (at least on a terrestrial scale). ICF implo-

sions can be used to study properties of matter under extreme conditions, the

interaction of intense radiation with matter, and aspects of low energy nuclear

306
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Table 10.1. U.S. Experimental ICF Programs

Institution

Driver

Significant Results

Lawrence Livermore

National Laboratory

SHIVA

Nd-glass laser

30 kJ—30 TW

100 X liquid density

1012 neutrons

Resonance absorption phenomena

NOVA

Nd-glass laser

300 kJ—300 TW

Completed in 1983

Los Alamos

National Laboratory

HELIOS

CO2 laser

10U-10TW

50-100 X liquid density

10'' neutrons

Hot electron phenomena

ANTARES

CO2 laser

40kJ-40TW

Completed in 1983

Sandia National

Laboratory

PBFA-I

2-MeV ions

1 MJ-25 TW

Completed in 1981

PBFA-II

4-MeV ions

4MJ-100TW
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Completed in 1983

KMS Fusion

CHROMA-II

Nd-glass laser
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1 kJ—2TW

First thermonuclear

neutrons

Comparison of implosions

at 0.52 and 1.06 fim

Univ. of Rochester

OMEGA-10

Nd-glass laser

lOkJ—10 TW

10" neutrons

Implosions with

0.35-/im light

Naval Research

Laboratory

PHAROS-II

Nd-glass laser

1 kJ—1 TW

Ablative acceleration

Laser-plasma interaction

phenomena

GAMBLE-II

2-MeV ions

150 kJ—2.5 TW

Ion diode development

Focussing and propagation

of ions in plasma channels

307
308

APPLICATIONS

physics. Indeed, ICF presents us with a unique opportunity to study certain

aspects of astrophysics such as stellar interiors on a laboratory scale.

But, as we noted earlier, perhaps the most important application of ICF will

be to the production of energy, whether directly through the conversion of

fusion energy into electricity, or indirectly, by using the fusion energy or

reaction products to produce synthetic chemical or nuclear fuels. We will

examine each of the major applications of inertial confinement fusion to

energy production in this chapter:

1. Electric power generation.

2. Fissile fuel production.

3. Process heat and synthetic fuel production.

4. Propulsion.

10.1. INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION REACTORS

Perhaps the central question concerns how to capture the energy released in an

ICF microexplosion and convert it into a useful form such as electrical power.

As with all early generation fusion systems based on D-T fuels, this energy will

appear primarily as the kinetic energy of fast 14-MeV neutrons. Therefore our

goal is to burn the ICF fuel pellets using appropriate drivers (lasers or particle

beams), confine the pellet microexplosion in a suitable blast chamber or

reactor cavity, capture the kinetic energy of the fusion reaction products

(primarily fast neutrons) as heat in a surrounding blanket, and then use this

heat to perform useful work (e.g., driving a steam thermal cycle to produce

electricity). Since most attention has been directed toward the study and design

of laser-driven inertial confinement fusion, we consider here for the most part

the design of laser fusion power systems.

A detailed design must address and answer a host of complex questions

involving the fuel pellet design and fabrication, the driver, the blast chamber

and blanket design, and the thermal cycle. Several of these questions are

summarized below:

1. Laser Pellet Studies. What range of pellet gain is required? What yield

should one choose? What value of laser energy is appropriate? What are

the spectra associated with various forms of pellet debris? What degree of

target illumination uniformity is required, and how many laser beams are

needed? What do targets cost, how are they fabricated, and how are they

delivered to a spot inside the chamber?

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2. Laser Studies. What is the range of viable wavelengths? What is the laser

energy? What is the laser pulse shape? How are beam lines designed, and

what are the problems with the last focusing mirror? What repetition rate

is required, and how does this influence laser design, power supplies, and
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component lifetimes?
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION REACTORS

309

3. Optical Beam Train. How many last mirrors are there, and how are they

designed? How is the beam train integrated with the laser system? Do we

combine beams? What is the shape and location of the last mirrors? How

does wavelength influence optics system design?

4. Cavity and Blanket Design. Is a protective liner for the first wall re-

quired? How does the liner or first wall respond to X rays, ions, and

reflected laser light? How does this response vary as the spectra and

fraction of energy in each category change? How will we design the first

wall? How will the blanket be designed to remove the heat and breed

tritium?

5. Materials and Neutron Radiation Damage. Are there special rate effects

in ICF reactor systems? How does the damage vary with temperature?

What structural material should one choose? What should one choose for

neutron wall loading? What are the dynamic stress problems and how

should they be treated?

6. Tritium Systems and Power Cycle. What does the complete tritium cycle

look like? How do we breed and recover tritium? How do we minimize

leakage effects? How do we integrate the various forms of heat flow into

an optimum power cycle? Is an intermediate loop needed?

It has become apparent that the successful application of inertial confinement

fusion to the production of electric power will require a number of technologi-

cal goals to be achieved:

1. A high average power driver with the required efficiency (>5%) and

reliability (> 70%).

2. The development of high gain fusion targets.

3. The ability to manufacture cheaply fusion targets on a mass production

basis.

4. A first wall able to withstand the effects of X rays, debris, and neutrons

from ICF microexplosions.

5. Structural materials that can withstand the cumulative damage effects of

high energy neutrons and cyclical stresses.

6. Final beam-focusing elements that can be protected or placed sufficiently

far from microexplosions or easily replaced to prevent compromising the

availability of the power plant.

10.1.1. POWER BALANCE IN INERTIAL CONFINEMENT

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FUSION REACTORS

All ICF reactors must meet certain power balance and related economic

requirements. These constraints essentially reflect the requirement that the

reactor must produce substantially more power than it uses in order to be

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310

APPLICATIONS

economically competitive with other sources of electricity. The power flow in

an ICF reactor is shown schematically in Figure 10.1.

The quantity of most interest for reactor economics studies is the recirculat-

ing power fraction (RPF).8 This is defined (see Figure 10.1) as the ratio of the

power needed to drive the driver system to the gross electrical power. The RPF

can be expressed in terms of the basic system efficiencies and the target gain Q.

If the blanket power multiplication (fusion neutron power in/thermal power

Blanket

Electrical

conversion

system

Laser system

P. I Bus

''''bar

where:

r\t= laser system efficiency

thermonuclear energy

Q = pellet gain:

laser light energy

_ neutron energy

thermonuclear energy

MB = blanket energy multiplication

tfT = electrical conversion efficiency

Pm = electrical power input to laser

P = gross electrical power

RFP=y1

Figure 10.1. Power flow in an ICF reactor.

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INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION REACTORS 311

1 5 10 50 100

Fusion energy gain — r?L Q

Figure 10.2. Plant recirculating power requirements as a function of fusion energy

gain.

out) is taken to be 1.0, then the recirculating power fraction can be plotted as a

function of the product t\DQ as shown in Figure 10.2. (As an aside, we should

note that for hybrid reactors, the blanket multiplication can be substantially

greater than 1.0, ranging to as high as 100. Furthermore, pure fusion reactors

will typically have blanket multiplications of 1.1 to 1.3, and this can be quite

important to system economics.) For reference, the recirculating power fraction

of fossil-fueled and fission reactor power plants are also given. It is generally

assumed that the recirculating power fraction cannot exceed 25% for an

economically viable system. This translates into a value of t\dQ= 10. Hence the

attractiveness of inertial confinement fusion as the basis for a power reactor

depends equally upon the driver efficiency and target gain. A 10% efficient

driver such as a CO2 laser must achieve a target gain of 100 to be economically

attractive. If the driver efficiency is only 3 to 5% (such as with a KrF laser),

then the target gain must be 200 to 300. On the other hand, ion beam

accelerators with projected efficiencies of 25 to 30% allow target gains as low

as 30 to 40.

10.1.2. TARGET YIELD AND REPETITION RATES IN ICF

REACTORS

Once the relationship between the driver efficiency and target gain has been

established, then the driver energy that is required to produce the target gain
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312

APPLICATIONS

must be determined from gain curves such as those presented in Chapter 9.

These gain curves depend on target design and on the coupling efficiency of

the driver energy into the target. With this information, the target yield and the

pulse repetition frequency are simply determined by the relations

Y=QED

PF=Yu

where PF is the fusion power and w is the pulse repetition frequency. This then

determines the type of reactor design that is required for a given driver. The

reactor must be designed to withstand the blast of an explosion of Y MJ and

must reestablish itself to firing conditions in a time between pulses of w l.

With this general background, we will now turn our attention to specific ICF

reactor designs.

10.2. REACTOR CAVITY (BLAST CHAMBER)

The design of a chamber to contain the blast of the ICF microexplosion would

appear at first to be a challenge. A yield of 100 MJ of energy is equivalent to

48 pounds of TNT, which might be expected to blow a well-constructed

reactor cavity to bits with a repetition rate of typically 1 to 10 blasts/s.

Fortunately, this is not the case because the force on the walls of the chamber

due to such a blast is proportional to the square root of the debris mass. Thus

for a pellet mass of 1 mg, the fusion pellet debris produces less than the

force of the debris from a chemical explosion.

However of far more significance is the radiation emitted by the microexplo-

sion. This produces an extremely hostile environment that places severe

demands on cavity structures.

10.2.1. RADIATION

In general, four types of radiation will be emitted from an ICF fusion pellet: X

rays, charged particles (including alphas and pellet debris), fusion neutrons,

and reflected laser light (for laser drivers). Typical release fractions and

energies for these products for the high gain ion beam target design discussed

Table 10.2. ICF Target Yield (Ion Beam Drivers)

Total fusion yield 100 MJ

Neutron yield 71 MJ

X-ray yield 20 MJ

Ion yield 7.4 MJ

Endoergic reactions 1.6 MJ

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Neutron multiplication 1.046

Average neutron energy 12 MeV

Average gamma energy 1.53 MeV

Tritium breeding ratio 0.01

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X-ray Spectrum ~ 1 keV (black body)

REACTOR CAVITY (BLAST CHAMBER)

313

INTEGRATED RADIATION SPECTRUM

cc

>

UJ

10

Time â– 3.5109 Nanosec

0.1

0.01

I 111 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

iiiii

ii iii i

i , in"

10

-8

10"

10"

10"

10-'

10

102

Figure 103.

target design.)

PHOTON ENERGY (KEV)

Time-integrated radiation spectrum from ICF microcxplosion. (LIB

in Chapter 9 are given in Table 10.2. The time integrated X-ray spectrum is

shown in Figure 10.3. Although the 14.1-MeV neutrons initially constitute 80%

of the fusion reaction energy, computations have shown that through collisions

experienced while leaving the pellet, these neutrons will moderate and lose a

substantial fraction of energy to the fuel. (See Figure 10.4). In fact, for a pellet

of pR~5, 60% of the 14.1-MeV neutrons suffer a collision in the pellet, losing

as much as 90% of their original energy in a single collision with a deuteron.

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The X-ray spectrum for bare pellets is quite hard and nonthermal, but it can

be approximated as an 8-keV black body spectrum. In structured pellets, more

neutron energy is transferred to the particle debris via increased moderation.

iol
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io-

SPECTRUM OF NEUTRONS

t LEAKING FROM HIB TARGET

IO"3

i i i i 1111

IO5 10s IO7

NEUTRON ENERGY (eV)

Figure 10.4. Time-integrated neutron

spectrum from ICF microexplosion. (LIB

target design.)
314

APPLICATIONS

The energetic charged collision products will quickly radiate this additional

energy away in the form of X rays. Thus, up to 20% of the fusion energy can

be released in the form of X rays in complex pellets. This X ray spectrum may

range from 300 eV to 1 keV (blackbody). In such pellets there is some

production of MeV gammas due to the inelastic scattering of neutrons with

pellet constituents.

Reflected laser light can also be significant in certain situations. For low

yield targets, the reflected light energy may well exceed the energy of the

reaction products. For short wavelength lasers with short pulses and high pellet

reflectivity, the reflected laser light can cause excessive surface heating of the

wall.

Although fast neutrons have large mean free paths in most wall materials

(~ 10 cm) and will pass easily through to the reactor blanket, the other types of

radiation will be totally absorbed by the first wall.

10.2.2. WALL LOAD MECHANISMS

The sudden deposition of the ICF burn product energy in the first wall will

result in a stress due to thermal gradients in the material from nonuniform

heating and conduction as well as inertial effects. One can distinguish among

several different load mechanisms: (1) pellet debris impact, (2) blast wave

reflection, (3) evaporation recoil, (4) blanket expansion, and (5) thermal

distortion. The principal source of energy deposition at the first wall will be

due to the charged particles and X rays supplemented to a lesser extent by any

reflected photons.

The task of calculating the first wall response (i.e., the surface temperature

rise and mechanical stress due to a pulse) is quite difficult. Because of the

extreme conditions at the first wall surface, phase relations will play a large

role. Furthermore, thermal relaxation time constants for first wall materials are

often of the same order as the heat deposition times. More specifically, if rm is

the mechanical relaxation time and rT is the thermal relaxation time of the

wall, we find that the deposition time spread of the neutrons, X rays, and high

energy alphas is T<rm<^rT, while that of the pellet debris is typically much

longer Tm«Tr~T.

The rapid energy deposition and short deposition range of charged particle

debris and X rays can cause severe damage to the surface of first wall

materials. In fact, studies of wall lifetime have concluded that an unprotected

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dry wall cavity design made from any reasonable material will not survive

microexplosions at economically reasonable wall loadings (>1 MW/m2) be-

cause of excessive thermal ablation and sputtering of the wall surface material.9

Both graphite and metallic first walls (Mo.Ta.SS) will experience large surface
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temperature excursions since the ions and soft X-rays deposit their energy in a

thin surface layer. Excessive ablation (~1 cm/yr) will take place. Sputtering

will also be significant (~ 1 cm/yr) since damage occurs at elevated tempera-

tures. (Sputtering yields increase sharply as the surface approaches the melting
REACTOR CAVITY (BLAST CHAMBER)

315

Table 10.3. Anticipated Structural Materials Requirements for Fission

and Fusion Reactors

Parameter LMFBR MCF ICF

Temperature (°C)

300-600

300-500 (Steel)

300-500 (Steel)

500-1000 (refractory)

3-10X10"7 (mirrors and

500-1000 (refractory)

Maximum instantaneous

~10 6

~1-10

displacement rate (dpa/s)

tokamaks)

1-10X10 5 (theta pinch)

Average 0 disp. rate (dpa/yr)

~50

10-30

10-30

Helium gas prod, (appm/yr)

~10

200-600 (Steel)

25-150 (refractory)

200-500 (Steel)

25-150 (refractory)

Power cycles per year

~10

~10 (mirror)

103-105(tokamak)

3X106 (theta pinch)

107-109

Stress Level (MPa)

60-120

60-120
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100-200

Desired Lifetime Conditions'"

Displacements per atom

100-150
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300-1000

300-1000

Helium product (appm)

20-30

6,000-20,000

6,000-20,000

W/V0(%)

<5

<10

<10

Creep

<1

<1

<1

"PF = 70%.

fc30-yr lifetime.

temperature.) By way of contrast, spallation of wall material does not appear

to be a serious problem since there will be no thermoelastic stress wave from

ion energy deposition (because of the spread in arrival time). Also, if the X ray

spectrum is harder than about 1 keV black body, only small amplitude

transient stresses will be generated.

Neutron damage to structural materials will also play an important role in

cavity design. The primary neutron damage mechanisms are atomic displace-

ments and gas production (primarily helium). Displacement damage is ex-

pressed in terms of displacements per atom (dpa) and gas production is

expressed as atomic parts per million (appm). The damage limits for type 316

SS at an operating temperature of 500°C are estimated to be 150 dpa and 500

appm helium. At a neutronic wall loading of 1 MW/m2, an unprotected first

wall of 316 SS would experience a displacement damage rate of roughly 10 dpa

316

APPLICATIONS

Neutrons

Evaporation X ray

and debris

SACRIFICIAL LINER

Neutrons

Film ablates

( X ray and debris)

LITHIUM WETTED WALL

Neutrons

' , , , 111

''TtTTTTTTTTT

(X ray only)

I Debris deflected)

MAGNETIC DEFLECTION

Neutrons

Absorbs X rays, Debris,

and neutrons

LITHIUM CURTAIN-WALL

Shock layer

(X rays and debris)

BUFFER GAS

Figure 10.5. Various approaches to first wall protection in ICF reactors.

this problem, including10": (1) dry wall, sacrificial liners, (2) magnetically

protected walls, (3) wetted walls, (4) fluid curtains or jets, and (5) gas-filled

cavities. These approaches differ primarily in the way in which the inner

surface of the first wall interacts with X rays and microexplosion debris. (These

approaches are illustrated schematically in Figure 10.5.) In the dry wall12

approach a sacrificial metal or ceramic liner is placed between the fusion

chamber and the blanket. This wall would then be replaced periodically. The

magnetic protection concept1314 uses a solenoid-generated magnetic field to

divert the pellet debris away from the sides of a cylindrical blanket and into

conical collectors at top and bottom. The wetted wall1516 approach features a

thin layer of liquid metal that covers the metal wall and protects it from the

blistering and structural ablation that would otherwise occur from the microex-
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plosion debris. The fluid curtain1718 or jet19 approach shields the first wall

from X rays, neutrons, and debris with a thick falling region of liquid metal

(lithium) or solid pellets. The gas-filled cavity20 design fills the blast chamber

with a buffer gas such as xenon at less than 1-torr pressure, sufficient to
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protect the first wall from the ions and soft X rays produced by the microex-

plosion. In this section we will discuss each of these approaches in detail.

Dry Wall/Sacrificial Liner Designs. We have noted that an unprotected or

dry wall would experience such extensive surface damage from fusion reaction

debris that it would not constitute an acceptable design by itself. However, it

has been proposed21 to place a sacrificial liner fabricated out of a material such

as graphite that could protect the first wall. The sacrificial liner would

experience thermal ablation and sputtering damage until it is reduced to a

REACTOR CAVITY (BLAST CHAMBER)

317

-SS back plate

SS coolant tubes

Sraphlte liner' XSS liner plate

Figure 10.6. A graphite-protected dry wall design.

minimum design thickness. At this point it would be replaced. A graphite

protected dry wall design is shown in Figure 10.6 (where the first wall is

fabricated out of stainless steel and contains channels for coolant flow). Other

dry wall concepts which have been investigated have specified unprotected

niobium walls.

Magnetically Protected Wall Designs. This design22"24 utilizes an axial

magnetic field produced by exterior coils to divert the charged particle debris

out into conical energy sinks which are located on the ends of a cylindrical

reactor cavity (see Figure 10.7). As designed, the graphite protected cylindrical

first wall would see only the 10 to 20% X-ray yield plus the 0.1% reflected laser

light flux. The energy sinks would be fabricated from refractory materials such

as graphite and would be replaced periodically when radiation and material

damage levels exceed operating tolerances. In principle, at least, the magneti-

cally shielded first wall could be combined with direct conversion of the pellet

debris kinetic energy into electricity (although this would only be attractive

with advanced fuel schemes utilizing D-D or />-' "B reactions).

This approach suffers from several drawbacks, however. Although the alpha

particles act as single particles and are quickly diverted to the sink cones, the

slower debris plasma acts collectively in doing work against the magnetic field.

Thus as the debris expands out the ends of the cylinder it first excludes and

then compresses the magnetic field between the plasma and the cavity wall.
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318 APPLICATIONS

Figure 10.7. A magnetically protected wall design.

This can give rise to plasma instabilities that would cause particles to cross

field lines and impact against the wall. Furthermore, magnetically shielded first

walls present a disadvantage if liquid metal coolants are to be used because of

the pumping power required to move the coolant across field lines. The blanket

modules and the first wall would be more inaccessible than in the dry wall

concepts.

Wetted Wall Designs. In wetted-wall designs,15, l6, 25 the cavity wall is

formed by a porous refractory metal through which coolants such as lithium

flows to form a protective coating for the first wall surface (see Figure 10.8).

This coating for the first wall will serve to absorb charged particles and

reflected laser light while attenuating X rays. Typically, the coating will be

about 1- to 2-mm thick, of which about 0.1 mm will be evaporated and ablated

following each shot. Because of this ablation, such cavities would be limited to

about one shot per second, the time delay associated with replenishing the

protective layer and pumping the cavity back down to pressures of 1017

atoms/cm3. The major disadvantages of this design are the large vacuum

pumping loads required due to the high vapor pressure of the lithium flow and

the complex first-wall designs which must allow the coolant to migrate from

reservoirs to cover the first wall liners.

Lithium Curtain or Jets. This concept5,26 33 features a thick, continuously

recyclable first wall of lithium jets that protect the first structural wall from

direct exposure to the ICF microexplosions (see Figure 10.9). Each shot

disassembles the "waterfall" or "forest" of lithium jets, which is then reestab-

lished between shots. The lithium is continuously pumped to the top of the

vacuum chamber through a reservoir region separating the first structural wall
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REACTOR CAVITY (BLAST CHAMBER) 319

Lithium Blanket Outer Shell

Figure 10.8. A wetted wall design.

from the pressure vessel. A small fraction of the lithium flow circulates as the

primary coolant to heat exchangers. The return flow from the heat exchangers

is injected through a vortex generator to protect the top of the chamber.

The principal purpose of the fall is to reduce neutron damage in blanket

structural materials, allowing them to survive the useful life of the plant.

Besides moderating neutrons, the fall also absorbs photons (X rays and

reflected laser light) and pellet debris (alpha particles, unburned fuel, and

other pellet material). Because the fall is separated from the chamber wall, any

shock wave produced in the fall would not be directly transmitted to the

structural wall.

The falling lithium region contains enough lithium to significantly reduce

neutron damage to the reactor structural materials from atomic displacements

and gas production. Such a system could be operated at a wall loading of 4

MW/m2 for the 30-year life of the plant without exceeding radiation damage

limits. The liquid lithium waterfall or jet concept also appears to yield excellent
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320

APPLICATIONS

energy-conversion, energy-removal, and tritium-breeding characteristics. Nearly

99% of the total energy is deposited directly in the primary lithium coolant.

This essentially eliminates cyclical thermal stresses in the structural walls.

The principal disadvantages appear to be the mechanical complexity of the

design and the limitations of allowable partial atmospheres in the cavity to

allow laser or heavy ion beam propagation. In addition, pumping power to

maintain the waterfall or jet flow will add significantly to the recirculating

power in the plant.

Gas-Filled Cavity Designs.1 •2034-31 In gas-filled cavity designs for laser

drivers neon or xenon is included in the cavity at pressures of 0.5 to 1 torr to

act as a buffer gas to prevent the charged particle debris from striking the first
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REACTOR CAVITY (BLAST CHAMBER)

321

Figure 10.10. First wall protection using a buffer gas.

wall. The energy deposited in the gas is radiated to the front wall over a

relatively long time period (~1 ms) so that surface heating and thermal

ablation of the wall become insignificant. The maximum overpressure gener-

ated at the first wall is only about 100 torr. The primary concern in this design

is to keep the gas density sufficiently low to avoid laser beam defocusing and

attenuation. An example of this design concept is the SOLASE laser fusion

reactor system discussed later in this chapter.

In light ion beam driven systems, the gas pressure in the cavity must be

between 5 to 50 torr.38,39 This is because ionized channels are established in the

gas between the diodes and the target by laser breakdown followed by a

discharge current. The ion beam pulses are then injected into these z-pinch

channels and propagate to the target. At this gas pressure, the target debris is

quickly attenuated in the gas forming a fireball. The shock that is generated by

this fireball propagates outward (see Figure 10.10) and reflects from the first

Table 10.4. Current Status of Reactor Cavity Designs

Bare metal: Very large cavity diameters (10's meters)

Economically infeasible

Sacrificial liner: Frequent liner replacement

Probably not economic

Magnetic Deflection: Periodic liner replacement (only from X-ray evaporation)

Further analysis required

Gas fill: Protection from X rays and ion debris

Restoration of initial conditions uncertain

Further analysis required

Wetted wall: Protection from X rays and ion debris

Significant wall impulse

Repetition rate limited to about one shot per second

Thick lithium wall or jets: Protection from X rays and ion debris

Mitigation of structural radiation damage

Significant wall impulse

Restoration of initial conditions uncertain

Further analysis required

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322

APPLICATIONS

wall. This shock can generate overpressures of 1 to 10 atmospheres at the wall.

Hence in this design, the wall must be constructed of and supported by strong

structural materials. A major difficulty in this concept involves the reestablish-

ment of cavity conditions between pulses so that new propagation channels

can be formed for the next shot.

We have compared various reactor cavity design concepts in Table 10.4.

10.3. OTHER ASPECTS OF ICF REACTOR DESIGNS

10.3.1. BLANKET DESIGNS

The blanket system of the reactor must perform several functions. It must

convert the fusion energy into thermal energy, provide for the efficient removal

of this thermal energy, and breed enough tritium to replace that which is

burned in the fusion reaction. The blanket system must also maintain the

required vacuum in the fusion chamber.

Perhaps the primary constraint on the design of most fusion reactor blankets

is the requirement that tritium must be continually bred and processed from

lithium. Since natural lithium is isotopically 1.4% 6Li and 92.6% 7Li, one can

make use of two reactions:

7Li + n(2.5 MeV)-4He + 3T+n(slow)

6Li + n(slow)-4He + 3T+4.8 MeV

Note that the 7Li reaction is a threshold reaction that is neutron conserving,

and that the 6 Li reaction has a large thermal cross section and is exothermic.

Thus, in a very ideal case, the best we can hope to do with a single 14.1-MeV

fusion neutron and a pure lithium system is to cause a reaction first with 7Li

and have the resulting slow neutron absorbed in 6Li. The result would be one

surplus tritium atom (i.e., a breeding ratio of 2) and about 16.4 MeV of energy

(14.1-2.5 + 4.8).

In most designs, liquid lithium is used both as a breeding medium and as the

blanket coolant. However, other tritium breeding compounds which may prove

compatible with fusion reactor designs include molten salts (Li2Be4 or "flibe"

and LiF), ceramic compounds (Li2O and Li2C2) and aluminum compounds

(LiAl,LiA1O2).

Liquid-Lithium Cooled Stainless Steel Manifold. The conventional ap-

proach requiring the least in sophisticated technology would be a cylindrical

annulus of stainless steel into which vertical coolant channels are drilled to

form a manifold (see Figure 10.11). The stainless steel manifold concept21 is
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compatible with either a dry or wetted first-wall cavity design. In the dry wall

approach, one could use a graphite liner that is supported by stainless steel and

cooled with liquid lithium. The graphite liner might be designed for an

operational lifetime of one year. In the wetted-wall approach, one could

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OTHER ASPECTS OF ICF REACTOR DESIGNS

323

Figure 10.11. A liquid-lithium-cooled stainless steel manifold blanket design.

maintain a thin (3-mm) film of liquid lithium on the inner surface of the

manifold. Tritium breeding considerations limit the thickness of a structural

wall of solid stainless steel to less than 10 cm. The stainless steel manifold

would operate at a neutronic first wall loading of about 1 to 2 MW/m2, and

this would require a relatively large chamber radius (10 to 15 m for a 4000

MWt system). For use with stainless steel, lithium temperatures must be

limited to about 500°C to avoid excessive corrosion.

Gas-Cooled Graphite Manifold A graphite manifold2140 would be similar

to the stainless steel manifold, except that the vertical coolant channels are

drilled into an array of graphite blocks that make up the fusion chamber. One

could adapt high temperature gas-cooled fission reactor technology (HTGR) to

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324

APPLICATIONS

design a vacuum vessel of reinforced, prestressed concrete as shown in Figure

10.12. High pressure helium gas would then be pumped through the coolant

channels, some or all of which are filled with pellets of a lithium ceramic.

Tritium is removed from these channels by the gas coolant as it diffuses out of

the lithium compound in which it is bred. The graphite manifold design is a

reactor concept that exhibits low activation and low tritium inventories.

Fluidized Wall and Jet Concepts. Fluidized wall concepts provide protec-

tion to the first metallic wall from high energy neutrons in addition to the X

rays and debris. These concepts appear to be less dependent on materials

development because radiation damage is significantly reduced. Designs using

both a liquid lithium waterfall and an array of lithium jets have been proposed

and studied. The jet arrangement is shown in Figure 10.13.

These designs feature a thick fall of liquid lithium that protects the first

structural wall, allowing it to last for the useful life of the plant. By keeping the

fall off the chamber wall, shock waves generated in the fall are not directly

transmitted to the structural wall. The majority of the fusion energy is thus

deposited in the liquid lithium, which serves as the primary coolant, fertile
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OTHER ASPECTS OF ICF REACTOR DESIGNS 325

Figure 10.13. Lithium wall or jet blanket design.

material for tritium breeding, and first wall. Hence the system does not have to

rely on conduction of heat through structural materials to remove thermal

energy.

As one might expect, fluidized wall or jet concepts have excellent tritium

breeding characteristics.21,41 With no structural material between the fusion

neutrons and the lithium fall, the design takes full advantage of the high energy

7Li(n, n'T) reaction.

Gas-Filled Cavity Designs. The prototype gas-filled cavity design is the

SOLASE system studied at the University of Wisconsin (see Figure 10.14). The

SOLASE blanket is constructed primarily with graphite, either nuclear grade

graphite or chopped-fiber type graphite composite. Lithium oxide particles,

100 to 200 nm in diameter, flow under gravity through the blanket and serve

the dual purpose of tritium breeding and heat transfer. This design eliminates

the need for metallic first walls and liners since the buffer gas attenuates the

radiation to a level compatible with first wall thermal and mechanical toler-

ances. The estimated lifetime of the blanket structure at 5 MW/m2 wall

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326

APPLICATIONS

^^H^Ol«»^^Sl«^U5IO>M«»CTO^yST«

STREAM

ROTATED 90°

Figure 10.14. A buffer gas protected cavity design. (SOLASE design.)

loading is approximately 1 year (corresponding to 30 dpa). Hence the design

utilizes a blanket structure that can be periodically replaced in segments.

10.3.2. TARGET INJECTION

Injection of ICF targets into a power reactor chamber will be quite different

from the static mounting procedures used in experimental research today.42 43

Electrostatic and pneumatic injection are the two injection modes of most

interest. Electrostatic methods appear to be more susceptible to damage in the

intense radiation and temperature environment of the reactor chamber. Hence

most interest rests with pneumatic injection.

For example, one could inject the pellet with a pneumatically operated

launching device that injects the pellet along a vertical trajectory. The state of

the art of pneumatic injection is quite well developed, with present high

precision air guns being able to deliver projectiles into an area of radius less

than 1 mm at a distance of 12 m with a horizontal trajectory.

A more difficult problem involves tracking the pellets on their path to the

focal point and reaiming the driver beam. For this, laser doppler velocimetry

has been proposed along with adaptive optics in the beam lines to steer the

beams.
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OTHER ASPECTS OF ICF REACTOR DESIGNS

327

10.3.3. DRIVER DEVELOPMENT

We have summarized the status of high power laser and particle beam driver

development in Chapters 7 and 8. We suspect that driver development will be

the most critical link in the achievement of ICF power generation systems. The

complexity of developing reliable and efficient drivers with the required

energy, power, and beam qualities necessary for ICF applications is formida-

ble.

No presently known class of laser will obviously meet the requirements for

laser fusion. However, several lasers such as the CO2 and KrF can probably be

scaled to meet minimum requirements for energy (1 to 4 MJ), power (100 to

1000 TW), and pulse width (1 to 10 ns). There are few lasers that have the

potential to achieve an efficiency greater than 1 or 2%. If a power plant can be

designed to operate with a laser of this efficiency, then the number of potential

laser candidates increases substantially, and the chance of finding a suitable

laser should also improve. However, there is still considerable uncertainty as to

whether the laser-target coupling processes can yield pellet gains in the range

from 100 to 1000 required by reactor applications.

While the requirements of efficiency and energy per pulse can be easily

achieved with charged particle beams, and while, at least for ion beams, the

driver-target interaction process seems adequate, there is still considerable

doubt as to whether this type of driver can ever be developed for commercial

applications. The problems in producing a beam of sufficient pulse length and

power level and delivering it to a target look quite formidable.

Finally, it is important to keep in mind that the lifetime requirements for

driver and power supply components must be about 109 shots for commercial

applications. This is several orders of magnitude beyond the present state of

the art and represents a serious challenge to successful driver development.

10.3.4. BEAM OPTICS

An important facet of laser fusion reactor design involves beam optics. To

transport and focus intense laser beams into the target chamber, and to protect

the necessary lenses and mirrors from the radiation produced in the microex-

plosion presents a serious challenge. Of particular concern are the last mirrors

of the optics chain since these mirrors will be in a direct line of sight to the

microexplosion.

The University of Wisconsin SOLASE study determined that uniform pellet

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illumination is not truly compatible with reactor requirements.44 They there-

fore used nonuniform illumination with six beams on each side to yield

two-sided illumination (much as in the Shiva and Nova systems).

Surface damage to final mirror components by X rays and pellet debris is a

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significant problem. Large quantities of pellet debris on mirror surfaces cannot

be tolerated. Physical, and more importantly, chemical reactions at the mirror

surface will degrade beam optical quality. A method to protect the mirrors
328

APPLICATIONS

from the pellet debris is to flow a gas, such as xenon or neon, in front of the

mirror surface.

It is felt that neutron induced damage is not a serious problem for uncoated

mirrors. Neutron damage in a Cu on Al substrate mirror at 15 m from a

150-MJ yield pellet at the rate of 20 Hz is moderate, about 10-7 dpa/s, and

the neutron heating is less than 10 W/cm3. This provides little incentive to

move the mirror farther than 15 m from the target.45

However, mirror damage may be quite different if coated mirrors are

required. Dielectric coatings are required to increase reflectivity for laser

wavelengths of less than about 1 /im (see Ref. 20). These coatings may be

susceptible to color center formation induced by neutron and X-ray damage. If

this is the case, then the final optics in short wavelength laser driven reactors

might require positioning as much as 100 m from the target. This seriously

complicates pointing errors, but it does not seem to rule out this option.

10.3.5. FUEL PELLETS

Although detailed pellet designs are still highly speculative, one might well

assume a generic pellet consisting of a frozen D-T fuel encapsulated by a glass

or polyvinyl alcohol shell. This shell is then surrounded by a high-Z (or

possibly low-Z) layer and a final low-Z, low density ablative zone.

The fabrication of these targets involves three main processes: filling,

cryogenic processing, and layer deposition techniques. All techniques are

widely used today and appear to be capable of meeting ICF target require-

ments, although fabrication costs may be a serious problem.

Storage of fuel pellets will be required because the manufacturing process is

a batch process and because a store is needed to allow plant operation in the

event of a failure. The storage is likely to be at cryogenic temperatures to

minimize the outdiffusion of the D-T fuel. Furthermore, the total plant tritium

inventory is highly sensitive to storage methods.

A particularly important aspect of ICF fuel pellet design will be the

compatibility of pellet materials with cavity walls. Pellet designs must avoid the

use of reactive materials and minimize oxygen and hydrogen content.

10.3.6. BALANCE OF PLANT

The design of ICF generating stations will vary considerably with the different

first wall protection. For example, an early Los Alamos design 13"15 based on

the wetted wall cavity protection system proposed incorporating up to 26

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reactor cavities (each generating about 120 MWt) with pairs of cavities served

by common heat transfer loops, steam generators, and fuel processing systems.

Two eight-beam laser systems would each have the capability to drive all of the

cavities via a rotating mirror that would direct the beam to each cavity,
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respectively. Each laser would have a redundant partner to achieve high

reliability.
Figure 10.15. A schematic of an electric generating station based on a magnetically

protected reactor cavity design. (Courtesy of Los Alamos National Laboratory.)

Figure 10.16. An electric generating station based on the HYLIFE reactor design.

(Courtesy of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.)

329
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APPLICATIONS

An electric generation station based upon the magnetic protection concept is

shown in Figure 10.15. Due to the output of each cavity (1249 MWt), this

design is characterized by only four cavities which leads to a lesser degree of

modularization and shared components than the wetted wall design. As in the

previous concept, there would be a rotating mirror and a redundant laser

system.

The use of such multiple cavities was briefly studied by the University of

Wisconsin Fusion Project group. Although the primary motivation for such

multiplicity was to increase the potential availability time of the reactor, they

found that the most reliability-sensitive subsystem was the laser rather than the

reactor chamber. Multiple laser and power supplies, while not economically

attractive, would be preferable to multiple cavities. Furthermore, the use of

multiple cavities increases the complexity of the beam line system and reduces

accessibility. Multiple cavities would appear to be necessary only if the time

required to reestablish the chamber environment (e.g., due to vacuum pump-

ing) becomes too long.

An alternative plant design of some interest is that based on the lithium

waterfall or jet concept, referred to as the HYLIFE design. An artist,s

conception of the plant is given in Figure 10.16.

10.3.7. A DETAILED EXAMPLE: SOLASE

The SOLASE reactor20 designed by the University of Wisconsin Fusion

Engineering Program is shown in Figures 10.14 and 10.17. This reactor is

designed to produce 965 MWe at a net efficiency of 29% from laser driven ICF

fuel pellets with a gain of 150. The laser energy on target is taken as 1 MJ, and

20 targets are imploded each second. The laser efficiency is assumed to be

6.7%, including multipassing of the next-to-last and last laser amplifier. The

laser is designed, generically where possible, as a gas phase laser modeled after

the CO2 system, but no laser wavelength is specified. The optimistic laser

efficiency of 6.7% still implies relatively large power supply needs, and the

recirculating power fraction is 28%.

Thermonuclear burn dynamics calculations were performed to determine the

pellet debris spectra for cavity design analysis.46 A buffer gas of neon at 0.5- to

1-torr pressure is used to stop the ions. Multilayered cryogenic targets are

produced in a batch process. Target delivery is by pneumatic guns, although

trajectory diagnostic and correction techniques must be developed. The last

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mirrors are diamond turned copper on an aluminum structure located 15 m

from the reactor cavity center with /-number 7.5. Heating of the mirror surface

is minor so long as the debris ions are stopped in the buffer gas.

The reactor cavity itself is a sphere 6 m in radius. It is constructed from

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graphite designed to guide the gravitation flow of lithium oxide (Li 2O) pellets

serving both as the tritium breeding and heat transport medium. The breeding

ratio is 1.33, and the maximum Li2O flow velocity is only about 1 m/s. The

neutron wall loading is 5 MW/m2 so that SOLASE presents a reasonably

OTHER ASPECTS OF ICF REACTOR DESIGNS

331

compact system given the net power produced. The blanket back structure is

made from an aluminum alloy, and the shield can be either concrete or lead

acetate solution. Thus, the overall levels of neutron induced activity decay very

rapidly following shutdown. It appears that limited hands-on maintenance is

possible after just one week.

This spherical system is highly accessible from the outside provided that

two-sided target illumination (six beams on each side) is acceptable. A proce-

dure has been developed for annual blanket replacement that is fast and

simple. The expected downtime to replace graphite blanket segments is two

weeks. The design philosophy is that blanket maintenance per se will be

avoided; after draining the Li2O, the graphite will simply be discarded.

In the steam power cycle, Li2O pellets transport heat directly to steam

generators that then drive turbines producing 1349 MWe gross.47 The laser

recirculating power requirement is 300 MWe, and other internal plant power

requirements lead to a net plant electrical output of 965 MWe and a net

thermal efficiency of 29%. The large recirculating laser power fraction appears

typical of laser fusion systems unless gains much larger than 150 or laser

efficiencies much greater than 5 to 10% can be achieved.

A cost analysis of the SOLASE design has been performed by United

Engineers and Construction, Inc., by building up the cost, item by item, for all
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332 APPLICATIONS

Table 10.5. Capital Cost Summaries for SOLASE Design (1979 Dollars).

Cost

(Millions

of

Item Dollars)

Direct cost

Land and land rights

2.4

Structures and site

facilities

131.2

Reactor plant equipment

879.0

Turbine plant equipment

206.0

Electric plant equipment

69.5

Miscellaneous plant

equipment

14.6

Special materials

175.6

Subtotal

1478.3

Total design allowance

87.9

(acct. 22 only)

Total spare parts

allowance

27.5

Total contingency

allowance

159.1

Indirect cost

Construction facilities,

equipment, and services

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263.0

Engineering and construc-

tion management services

263.0
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Other owner's costs

87.7

Total Direct and In-

direct Cost

2366.5

Interest during construc-

tion (9 years)

1479.2

Total Capital Cost

3845.7

Total Construction Cost

$3985/kWe

reactor-related and balance of plant systems. A capital cost account summary

is given in Table 10.5. When annual fuel and operational costs are added to the

construction cost, the total busbar energy cost is 66.1 mils/kWh. The three

largest cost items are the pellet fabrication factory, the Li2O heat transfer

system, and the laser system.

10.3.8. SOME CONCLUSIONS

As we have noted, laser driven fusion power plants will have a large recirculat-

ing power fraction (30% or so) unless very high gain targets (>500) or high
HYBRID FUSION/FISSION SYSTEMS

333

efficiency lasers (~ 10 to 20%) can be developed. The development of targets

with even modest gains (~100) and lasers with modest efficiencies (~\%) is

highly uncertain at present. The development of power supplies and pulsed

power switching with high reliability (108 to 109 shots) and modest costs is also

a major concern.

The constraints of few beams and pellet physics have led to a variety of

reactor cavity concepts. There appears to be no essential constraint on cavity

geometry (except cavity diameter), unlike magnetic fusion systems. Further-

more, the background density of cavity fill and debris gas appears to be low

enough to permit beam propagation.

Most reactor design considerations are dominated by protection of the first

wall and the achievement of high repetition rates. Preliminary reactor design

studies appear to rule out the use of dry or bare metal walls. The tendency is to

move toward either fluid walls or sacrificial (replaceable) liners with limited

life. The success and choice of a cavity design will strongly depend on pellet

materials and output characteristics.

Another important issue specific to ICF applications has to do with security

classification. The relationship of ICF to technical ideas and information

related to thermonuclear weapons could severely impede the commercialization

of this technology due to extensive classification of pellet design ideas. It seems

highly unlikely that ICF power generation could be developed for commercial

implementation in the face of the present classification restrictions. In particu-

lar, it seems doubtful that an electric utility would add the extra burden of

classification to the already overwhelming hurdles it faces in power plant

licensing and regulation.

10.4. HYBRID FUSION/FISSION SYSTEMS

An alternative application of any D-T fusion system, whether based on

magnetic confinement or inertial confinement fusion, is the utilization of the

14 MeV neutrons to produce fissile fuel (Pu or U-233) by neutron transmuta-

tion of fertile materials (U-238 or Th-232). This is made possible by the fact

that high energy neutrons will undergo many neutron mutiplying reactions in

the reactor blanket such as (n,2n), (n,3n), and (n, fission). This will allow the

breeding of fissile fuel as well as sufficient quantities of tritium to complete the

fusion fuel cycle.50"56 In fact, there are roughly 2 to 4 neutron capture events

per fusion neutron in most hybrid reactor blanket designs. In these systems,
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the blanket operates as a subcritical fission assembly driven by the fusion

neutron source.

The blanket can be designed to achieve a number of different goals. If the

neutron spectrum in the blanket remains hard, then the system will be a net
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producer of fissile fuel which can be periodically removed, reprocessed, and

burned in conventional fission reactors. If the neutron spectrum is softened by

including moderating materials in the blanket, then the bred fuel will be

burned in situ. This results in a large power multiplication in the blanket, in

334

APPLICATIONS

some cases as high as M=50 to 100. Or the system can be designed to operate

somewhere in between these two extremes.

The principal advantages of fusion/fission hybrid systems include the

following: First, they produce prolific quantities of fissile fuel that can be

burned in conventional fission reactors. This has several implications. First, the

ultimate energy released per D-T fusion neutron is now roughly 20 MeV from

fusion plus 200 MeV from the eventual fission of the bred fuel. This has the

potential of providing more "bang for the buck" than a pure fusion reactor.

Second, the majority of the power is produced in conventional fission reactors.

Hence there need be no new technology development for this part of the

energy production system.

The power multiplication in the blanket can significantly reduce the fusion

performance requirements for the hybrid reactor. Recall that the recirculating

power fraction is given by the expression

VLQv,[\+f„{M-\)]

where M is the blanket multiplication. Hence the fusion gain can be reduced

proportionally to the blanket multiplication. This is important for several

reasons. First, the reduced fusion performance may allow an earlier introduc-

tion date for the hybrid than for a pure fusion system due to technological

simplifications. Second, this earlier introduction date combined with the sub-

stantial fissile fuel production gives the hybrid reactor a large potential impact

on the energy market.

Of course, hybrid reactors are not without their own special problems. In

addition to combining the best features of neutron rich fusion reactions and

energy rich fission reactions, they also combine several of the worst aspects of

reactors based on either process alone. ICF fusion reactors at best will be very

complicated devices with large amounts of advanced technology, including

lasers or accelerators, target fabrication factories, tritium removal systems, and

so on. To this, the hybrid adds the specter of fissionable material with the

always present fission products and actinides. The technical problems pre-

sented by these materials may be overshadowed only by the sociopolitical

implications of producing fissile fuel.

A number of hybrid reactor designs based on ICF reactors have been

performed over the past few years.57"62 The "fusion part" of these designs has

been quite similar to that characterizing pure fusion ICF systems although with
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some relaxation of the target gain or the driver efficiency. An example of a

hybrid reactor based on the lithium jet scheme discussed in section 10.3.1 is

shown in Figure 10.18. The blankets in these designs have received the greatest

attention. These have shown a striking similarity to liquid metal cooled fast
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breeder reactor (LMFBR) core designs (i.e., stainless steel clad fuel, sodium

coolants, etc.).
PROCESS HEAT AND SYNTHETIC FUEL PRODUCTION 335

Figure 10.18. A hybrid reactor design based on the HYLIFE concept.

The neutrons produced by the D-T fusion reaction can also be used to

transmute long-lived fission waste products (primarily actinides) to short-lived

or stable isotopes.63"65 This method could serve as a mechanism to relax

requirements for long-term geological storage of high level radioactive wastes.

One particularly interesting study, the laser fusion-driven actinide waste burner

(LDAB) uses partitioned fission reactor generated actinide wastes dissolved in

a molten tin alloy as fuel. A novel fuel-processing concept is used which

involves the high-temperature precipitation of actinide nitrides from the liquid

tin solution. This design allows for fission product removal at high burnup.

10.5. PROCESS HEAT AND SYNTHETIC FUEL PRODUCTION

Other applications of ICF reactors have been proposed. The temperatures in a

laser fusion reactor blanket will be limited only by the properties of refractory

materials in the blanket. Thus, temperatures above the HTGR limit of 1650°K

can be achieved. Such temperatures are attractive for producing process heat

for industrial applications.66 (Indeed, about 28% of the energy consumption in

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336

APPLICATIONS

the United States is used to generate process heat.) ICF reactors seem to be

unique in this respect, since they do not suffer from the temperature limita-

tions of magnetic fusion systems or fuel melting of fission reactors.

Los Alamos has designed several ICF blankets suitable for process heat

production. Using two zone blankets, composed of pure carbon and a 90%

carbon-10% boron carbide mixture, spherical ICF reactors have been designed

that would supply from 20 to 100 MW of thermal power at about 2100°K.

ICF reactors could also supply the energy necessary to produce synthetic

fuels. A variety of approaches have been proposed, including thermochemical.

electrolytic, and radiolytic processes.68,69

The thermal energy from the ICF reactor could support a sequence of high

temperature chemical reactions in various hydrogen-producing thermochemical

processes. While these thermochemical processes generally do not consume the

chemical reactants, they often use large quantities of hazardous and corrosive

chemicals. Practical energy to 65% of the fusion energy is recoverable as

thermal energy by burning the hydrogen produced.

Such reactors could also generate electricity for subsequent electrolysis of

water to produce hydrogen. For existing electrolysis plants, the combustion

energy of the hydrogen produced is 60 to 100% of the electrical energy input.

Hence if we assume a 40% plant thermal efficiency, we find that this scheme

Vacuum tritium barrier

Cooled first wall

Cooled structure

d-tS

Hot structural /

support/radiator Insulation

-4 Last—wall coolant

Last wall

Low—temperature

heat stream

« 1000 K)

High—temperature

process heat

(He. 1500 K)
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SIMPLE RADIATOR BLANKET

Figure 10.19. An ICF blanket design for synthetic fuel production.

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PROPULSION

337

would produce hydrogen with an overall energy conversion efficiency of 25 to

40%.

Hydrogen production by radiolysis can be achieved in several ways. The

penetrating neutron radiation of an ICF reactor could be utilized by incorpo-

rating sufficient quantities of H2O in the blanket regions surrounding the

fusion vacuum chamber. In this sense, fusion reactors are quite attractive, since

they produce an intense fast neutron flux in a surrounding blanket region

rather that in the core proper (as with a fission reactor).

A variety of synthetic fuel production schemes have been studied which use

an ICF reactor as an energy or radiation source. The blanket design for one

such scheme is shown in Figure 10.19.

10.6. PROPULSION

ICF reactors have been proposed as energy sources for propulsion of marine

vessels, aircraft, and spacecraft.4,70-71 Actually, we can probably discard aircraft

propulsion immediately since the power density of the overall ICF system

would be less than that of chemical jets or rockets. ICF ship propulsion would

appear to be characterized by features very similar to that of nuclear fission

propulsion, and therefore this application would also not appear to offer any

significant advantages over existing nuclear propulsion technology.

Figure 10.20. Two ICF propulsion schemes.

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338

APPLICATIONS

On the other hand, the very high velocities of fusion reaction products

(107 m/s) suggest that rockets using this debris as propellant would be

characterized by very high specific impulses (exhaust velocity divided by the

gravitational acceleration g). For example, ICF systems might make possible

specific impulses as high as 106 s in contrast to those of chemical fuels with

specific impulses of 450 s or less and nuclear fission rockets with 2000 s.

Two schemes have been proposed (see Figure 10.20). The first would use the

debris produced in an ICF microexplosion to collide with a pusher plate,

thereby transferring some of its momentum to the spacecraft. This particular

approach is in effect a microscopic approach to the Orion project in which the

explosions were originally intended to be fission or fusion bombs.

A more attractive option would be to implode the pellet in a magnetic

mirror that is reflecting at one end and open at the other. The charged particle

reaction products would then be directed by the mirror field out the exhaust of

the rocket. This latter approach would place a premium on fuels such as D-3He

or p-uB that produce primarily charged fusion products.

Such ICF propulsion systems appear best suited for deep space missions.

For example, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has studied a laser fusion

system using a 1-MJ laser pulse to produce a 260-MJ pellet yield that

translates into 120-MJ producing thrust. For a pulse repetition frequency of

Figure 10.21. An artists conception of an ICF-powered spacecraft.

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REFERENCES

339

500/s, this system would develop a thrust of 2.2 tons at a specific impulse of

5.5 X105 s (corresponding to an exhaust velocity of 6X106 m/s). For a

spacecraft with a 300-ton propulsion system and a 200-ton deuterium fuel

load, a payload of 100 tons could make a round trip to any point in the solar

system in one year utilizing such an ICF drive (see Figure 10.21).

REFERENCES

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24,263 (1973).

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340

APPLICATIONS

19. Laser Program Annual Report-1978, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-50021-

78 (1978).

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22. T. G. Frank, D. A. Freiwald, T. Merson, and J. J. Devaney. "A Laser Fusion Concept

Utilizing Magnetic Fields for Cavity Wall Protection." Proc. of the First Topical Meeting on

the Technology of Controlled Nuclear Fusion. San Diego (1974)

23. J. J. Devaney. "Magnetically Protected First Wall for a Laser Induced Thermonuclear

Reaction," Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Report LA-5699-MS (1974).

24. A. Freiwald, D. O. Dickman, and J. C. Goldstein, "Computer Simulation of a DT Pellet

Microexplosion in a Magnetically Protected Laser Fusion Reactor," Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 20,

1238 (1975).

25. I. O. Bohachcvsky, L. A. Booth, and J. F. Hafcr, "Lithium Flow on the Inside of a Spherical

Fusion Reactor Cavity," Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Report LA-6362-MS (1976).

26. J. A. Maniscalco, W. R. Meier, M. J. Monsler, "Design Studies of a Laser Fusion Power

Plant," Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-80071 (1977).

27. J. A. Maniscalco, W. R. Meier, and M. J. Monsler. "Conceptual Design of a Laser Fusion

Power Plant," Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-79652 (1977).

28. W. R. Meier and J. A. Maniscalco. "Liquid Metal Requirements for Inertial Confinement

Fusion." Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-80424 (1977).

29. P. E. Walker. "Environmental and Safety Features of a Lawrence Livermore Laboratory

Laser Fusion Reactor Design," Proc. Third Topical Meeting on the Technology of Controlled

Nuclear Fusion, Santa Fe, NM (1978).

30. M. Monsler, et al., "Electric Power from Laser Fusion: The HYLIFE Concept," Lawrence

Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-81259 (1978).

31. P. E. Walker. "Remote Systems Requirements of the High Yield Lithium Injection Fusion

Energy (HYLIFE) Converter Concept," Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-

81309 (1978).

32. W. R. Meier and W. R. Thomson. "Conceptual Design and Neutronics of Lithium Fall Laser

Fusion Target Chambers," Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-80782 (1978).

33. J. H. Pitts et al., "Potential Design Modifications for the HYLIFE Reactor Chamber," Proc.

Eighth Symposium on Engineering Problems of Fusion Research, San Francisco (1979);

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34. J. Howard, "First Wall Protection Scheme for the SOLASE Conceptual Laser Fusion

Reactor." Topical Meeting on Inertial Confinement Fusion, OSA. San Diego (1978).

35. S. I. Abdel-Khalik, G. A. Moses, and R. R. Peterson, "Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactors

Based on the Gas Protection Concept." Nucl. Eng. and Design 63, 315 (1981).
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36. R. R. Peterson, G. W. Cooper, and G. A. Moses, "Cavity C5as Analysis for Light Ion Beam

Fusion Reactors," Nucl Tech/Fusion 1, 377 (1981).

37. G. A. Moses and R. R. Peterson, "First Wall Protection in Particle Beam Fusion Reactors."

Nucl. Fusion 20, 849 (1980).

38. D. Cook and M. A. Sweeney. "Design of Compact Particle-Beam-Driven Inertial Confine-

ment Fusion Reactors." Proc. 3rd Topical Meeting on the Technology of Controlled Nuclear

Fusion, Santa Fe, NM (1978).

39. D. Cook. M. Sweeney, M. Buttram, K. Prestwich, G. Moses. R. Peterson. E. Lovell.

R. Engclstad. "Light Ion Driven Inertial Fusion Reactor Concepts," Proc. of 4th ANS Top.

Mtg. on Tech. of Controlled Nucl. Fusion, Oct. 1980, Valley Forge. PA.
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40. W. G. Wolfer and R. D. Watson, "Structural Performance of a Graphite Blanket in ICTRs,"

Proc. Third Topical Meeting on the Technology of Controlled Nuclear Fusion, Santa Fe, NM

(1978).

41. W. R. Meier. "Two-Dimensional Neutronics Calculation for the HYLIFE Convenor,"

Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report UCRL-83595 (1979).

42. M. Monsler, "Laser Fusion: An Assessment of Pellet Injection, Tracking, and Beam Pointing,"

Proc. Third Topical Meeting on the Technology- Controlled Nuclear Fusion, Santa Fe, NM

(1978).

43. R. G. Tomlinson, L R. Boedcker, D. H. Polk, G. E. Palma, and R. W. Guile, "Pellet and

Laser Beam Space-Time Interaction System Study," United Tech. Res. Center Report UTRC

R78-954373-1 (Nov 1978).

44. J. E. Howard, "Uniform Illumination of Spherical Laser Fusion Targets," Appl. Opt. 16, 2764

(1977).

45. M. M. H. Ragheb, A. C. Klein, and C. W. Maynard, "Three Dimensional Neutronics

Analysis of the Mirror-Beam-Duct-Shield System for a Laser Driven Power Reactor,"

University of Wisconsin Fusion Engineering Program Report UWFDM-239 (1978).

46. G. R. Magelssen and G. A. Moses, "Pellet X-Ray Spectra for Laser Fusion Reactor Designs,"

Nucl. Fusion. 19, 301 (1979).

47. G. Pavlenco, "SOLASE-Balance of Plant Analysis," United Engineers Report (March, 1980).

48. B. R. Leonard, "A Review of Fission-Fusion Hybrid Concepts." Nucl. Technol. 20, 161

(1973).

49. L. M. Lidsky, "Fission-Fusion Systems: Hybrid. Symbiotic, and Augean," Nucl. Fusion 15,

151 (1975).

50. A. G. Cook and J. A. Maniscalco, "Uranium-233 Breeding and Neutron Multiplying Blankets

for Fusion Reactors," Nucl. Technol. 30, 5 (1976).

51. J. Maniscalco, "Fusion-Fission Hybrid Concepts for Laser Induced Fusion," Nucl. Technol.

28, 98 (1976).

52. U. P. Jenquin, B. R. Leonard, D. H. Thomscn, and W. C. Wolkcnhauer, "A Fusion-Fission

Parametric Study," Annual Controlled Thermonuclear Reactor Technology Report, Pacific

Northwest Laboratory Report BNWL-1604 (1971).

53. B. R. Leonard. "A Hybrid Neutronics Analysis." Annual Controlled Thermonuclear Reactor

Technology Report. Pacific Northwest Laboratory Report BNWL-1685 (1972), p. 18.

54. B. R. Leonard and W. C. Wolkenhauer, "Fusion-Fission Hybrids: A Subcritical Thermal

Fission Lattice for a DT Reactor," Pacific Northwest Laboratory Report BNWL-SA-4390

(1972).
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55. R. P. Rose, "Fusion Driven Breeder Reactor Design Study," Wcstinghousc Electric Corpora-

tion Report WFPS-TME-043 (1977).

56. M. M. H. Ragheb. M. Z. Youssef, S. I. Abdel-Khalik, and C. W. Maynard. "Three-

Dimensional Neutronics Analysis of the SOLASE-H Laser Reactor Fissile Enrichment Fuel
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Factory," University of Wisconsin Fusion Engineering Program Report UWFDM-266 (1978).

57. "Laser Fusion-Fission Reactor Systems Study-4000 MW Laser Fusion Hybrid Reactor,"

Bechtcl Corporation Research and Engineering, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Report

UCRL-13796 (1977).

58. J. A. Maniscalco, "A Conceptual Design Study for a Laser-Fusion Hybrid," Proc. 2nd Top.

Meeting Technol. Controlled Nucl. Fusion, Richland, Wash. (1976).

59. W. P. Kovacik, "Laser Fusion Power Reactor Systems (LFPRS), Conceptual Design,"

Westinghouse Electric Corporation Report WFPS-RME-070 (1977).

60. R. W. Conn, S. I. Abdel-Khalik, and G. A. Moses, "The Laser Fusion Hybrid," Nucl. Eng.

Des. 63, 357 (1981).

342

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61. R. J. Barrett and R. W. Hardie, "The Fusion-Fission Hybrid as an Alternative to the Fast

Breeder Reactor." Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Report LA-8503-MS (1980).

62. D. H. Berwald et al.. "Parametric Systems Analysis for ICF Hybrid Reactors," Proc. 4th Top.

Meeting Technol. of Controlled Nucl. Fusion, King of Prussia, Pa. (1980).

63. D. H. Berwald and J. J. Duderstadt. "Preliminary Design and Neutronic Analysis of a Laser

Fusion Driven Actinide Burning Hybrid Reactor." Nucl. Technol. 42. 34 (1978).

64. R. P. Rose et al.. "Fusion Driven Actinide Burner Design Study." Electric Power Research

Institute Report EPRI-ER-451 (1977).

65. W. Bocola et al., "Considerations on Nuclear Transmutation for the Elimination of Actinides."

presented at the Int. Symp. Manage. Radioact. Wastes Nucl. Fuel Cycle, Vienna (1976).

66. H. I. Avci. K.. D. Kok, R. G. Jung, and R. C. Dykheizer, "Production of High Temperature

Process Heat in Pebble Beds in ICTR Blankets." Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc. 32. 39 (1979).

67. D. R. Peterson, J. H. Pendergrass, G. E. Cort. and R. A. Krakowski, "A Tritium Self-Sufficient

1600 K Process Heat Reactor Blanket Concept," Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc. 33. 74 (1979).

68. H. J. Gomberg and W. W. Meinkc, "Production of Synthetic Fuels: An Important Civilian

Application of Laser Fusion." Miami International Conference on Alternative Energy Sources,

edited by T. N. Verziroglu (1977).

69. J. D. Fish. "Radiolytic Production of Chemical Fuels in Fusion Reactor Systems." Princeton

University Ph.D. dissertation (1977).

70. R. Hyde. L. Wood, and J. Nuckolls. "Propulsion Applications of Laser Induced Fusion

Microexplosions," Proc. First Topical Meeting on the Technology of Controlled Nuclear Fusion,

San Diego, 1974. p. 159.

71. R. Hyde. L. Wood, and J. Nuckolls, "Prospects for Rocket Propulsion with Laser-Induced

Fusion Microexplosions," AlAA/SAE 8//i Joint Propulsion Special. Conf. Paper. New-

Orleans, 1972.
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Index

Ablation, 9

Ablation-driven compression, 44, 94

Ablation-generated pressures, 98

Ablation surface, 103

Ablative target, 20

Absorption, 136

anomalous, 136, 164

colli Mortal. 137

ion beam, 166

laser light, 137

relativistic electron beam, 163

resonance, 137

Absorption coefficient, 142, 145

Active medium, 226

Adiabat, 74

Alpha-particle heating, 55

Alpha-particle range, 55

Anomalous absorption, 136, 164

Anomalous processes, 136

Applications (of ICF), 306

Artificial viscosity, 189

Atomic population rate equations, 128

Balance of plant, 328

Beam optics. 327

Bernard instability, 85

Bethe equation, 169

Binary collisions, 37

Blanket designs, 322

Blast chamber, 312

Blowoff, 9

Bootstrap heating, 56

Bragg peaking, 167

Breakeven. 49

engineering, 49

scientific. 49

Bremsstrahlung preheating, 165

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Bremsstrahlung radiation, 57

Brightness factor, 263

Burn efficiency, 8, 36

Bum fraction, 36
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Bum physics, 51

Bum propagation, 58

Capacitive energy storage, 258

Central ignitors, 282

Chapman-Jouget deflagration, 100

Charged particle driver, 12

Charge separation, 68

Classical absorption, 144

Classification, 24

Coherent beam, 221

Compression, 8, 52

ablation-driven, 44, 94

factor, 43

isentropic, 10, 44

Computer codes, 180

Computer simulation, 180

Conservation laws, 66

Corona (blowoff). 180

Corona-core decoupling, 115

Corona equilibrium, 130

CO-2 lasers, 240

Coupling efficiency, 41, 47

Courant condition, 19Q

Crank-Nicholson scheme, 193

Critical density, 143

Critical surface, 180

D-D fusion reaction, 32

Debye length, 68

Decay mode instability, 160

344

INDEX

Differencing schemes, 190

Diode, 255, 261

Disassembly time, 6, 7, 36

Discrete ordinates methods, 211

Dispersion relation, 142

Driver, 3

charged particle, 12, 252

coupling efficiency, 41, 47

efficiency, 48

energy deposition, 136

energy deposition region, 103

heavy ion beam. 13

hypervelocity particle impact. 13

laser, 10, 219

light ion beam, 13

particle beam, 252

relativistic electron beam, 12

D-T fusion reaction, 32

E-beam lasers, 242

Eddington factor, 132

Einstein relations, 226

Electron mean free path, 68

Electron thermal conduction, 104

Electrostatic waves, 159

Emittance, 274

Energy deposition, 136

Energy flux vector (spectral), 125

Energy gain, 47

Energy transport, 103

Equations of state, 87, 198

Eulerian description. 185

Excimer lasers, 245

Exploding pusher, 20, 287

Fast ions, 301

Fermi degenerate adiabat, 45

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Fermi-Dirac statistics, 91

Fermi energy, 91

Fick,s Law, 206

First wall, 314

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Floquet,s Theorem, 156

Flux-limited diffusion theory, 203

Flux limiter. 116, 206. See also Thermal flux

limiter

Fokker-Planck equation. 203, 210

Foster Committee. 23

Fourier-s Law, 67, 105

Four-level laser, 232

Free-free absorption, 140

Frequency locking, 155

Fuel, see Fusion fuel

Fuel gain, 47

Fuel loading, 281

Fusion, see Nuclear fusion

Fusion fuel, 32, 33

advanced, 33, 40

D-D, 32

D-T, 32

proton-based, 33, 40

Fusion reaction, 29

cross section, 30

D-D. 32

D-T, 32

physics, 29

proton-based, 33

Gain, 41

energy gain. 47

fuel gain, 47

laser, 229
INDEX

345

Ion beams, 263

heavy, 269

light. 263

I sen trope. 74

Isentropic compression, 10, 44, 80

Joule heating, 141

KMS fusion. 18

KrF lasers, 248

Lagrangian description, 185

Laser, 219

atomic, 222

CO-2, 242

excimer, 244

HF, 249

iodine,-244

KrF, 248

molecular, 222

photolytic, 246

Laser driver, 10

Laser fusion, 6

Laser gain, 229

Laser light absorption, 137

Laser physics, 220

LASNEX. 194, 280

Lawson criterion, 2, 6, 34

derivation. 35

relationship to rho-R criterion, 38

Leap-frog algorithm, 213

Lebedev Institute. 18

Light ion beams, 13

Line broadening, 228

collision, 229

Doppler, 229

natural, 228

Lithium, 33
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Lithium curtain, 318

Livermore (Lawrence Livermore Laboratory),

17

Local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), 130

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Los Alamos (Los Alamos Scientific

Laboratory), 19

Low beta accelerators, 272

LSS model, 170

LTE. 130

Mach number, 71

Magnetically protected walls, 317

Magnetic con line mem fusion, 3

Magnetic fields, 119. 164

Marx generator, 254, 259

Mathieu equation, 156

Mode-locking, 236

Monte Carlo methods, 93

Multigroup methods. 203

Multiple shell targets, 283

Multiple shocks, 77

Naval Research Laboratory, 19

Navier-Stokes equations, 67

Nearest grid point (NGP) method, 213

Negative absorption, 227

Neodymium lasers, 237

Neutron, 3, 301

capture reactions, 33

Neutron damage, 315

Neutron transmutation, 333

Nonlinear bremsstrahlung. 137, 147

Nova, 7

Nuclear fusion, 1

Oblique incidence, 150

346

INDEX

Profile modification, 152

Propulsion, 337

Proton-based fusion reactions, 33

Pulsed power diode accelerators, 254

Pulse-forming line. 255, 260

Pump (parametric), 155

Pumping mechanisms, 233

charged particle collision, 234

chemical, 234

gas dynamical, 234

optical, 234

resonant energy transfer, 234

Q-switching, 235

Quiver energy, 144

Quiver velocity, 144

Radiant intensity, 125

Radiation, 312

Radiation conduction approximation, 132

Radiation hydrodynamics, 125

Radiation pressure tensor, 132

Radiation transport, 124

Radiative transfer equation, 126

Radiolysis, 337

Rankine-Hugoniot relations, 73

Rayleigh-Taylor instability, 85, 285

Reactor, 15. 308

Reactor cavity, 312. 315

dry-wall, 316

gas-filled. 320

lithium curtain or jets. 318

magnetically protected wall. 317

wetted-wall. 318

Recirculating power fraction (RPF). 310

Relativistic electron beams. 12

absorption, 163
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Resonance absorption. 137, 148

Rho-R criterion, 36

with depletion, 39

derivation. 38
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relationship to Lawson criterion, 38

Rocket model. 97

Rosseland mean free path. 132

Scale height, 147

Self-heating (alpha-particle), 55

Self-similar, 79

Shiva, 7

Shock Hugoniot, 73

Shock sequencing, 282

Shock waves, 70

convergent, 78

multiple, 77

plasma, 83

Single-fluid approximation, 68

SOLASE, 330

Space charge effects, 264, 275

Spark. 9, 58

Specific volume, 186

Spectral intensity function, 125

Spontaneous emission, 225

Spontaneous magnetic fields, 119

Stimulated Brillouin scattering, 162

Stimulated emission, 220

Stimulated Raman scattering, 162

Stokes law, 67

Storage rings, 273

Substantial derivative, 186

Suprathermal electron transport, 121

Switches, 259
INDEX

Wall loading, 314

Wave-breaking process, 122, 152

WAZER, 199

Weibel instability, 120

X-rays, 300

hard, 301

soft, 300

see also Bremsstrahlung radiation

YAG lasers, 237

Zone distortion, 196

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 r
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