Introducing a two temperature plasma ignition in inertial confined targets under the effect of relativistic shock waves: The case of DT and pB11. (10th July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Eliezer, Shalom; Henis, Zohar; Nissim, Noaz; Pinhasi, Shirly Vinikman; Martinez Val, José Maria
• Is Part Of: Laser and particle beams. Volume 33:Number 3(2015)
• Page Start: 577
• Page End: 589
• Publication Date: 2015-07-10
• Subjects: Laser beams -- Periodicals; Particle beams -- Periodicals; 535.5
• DOI: 10.1017/S0263034615000701
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0263-0346

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>A criterion for a two temperature plasma nuclear fusion ignition is derived by using a common model. In particular, deuterium-tritium (DT) and proton–boron11 (pB¹¹) are considered for pre-compressed plasma. The ignition criterion is described by a surface in the three-dimensional space defined by the electron and ion temperatures <italic>T</italic>_e, <italic>T</italic>_i, and the plasma density times the hot spot dimension, ρ·<italic>R</italic>. The appropriate fusion ion temperatures <italic>T</italic>_i are larger than 10 keV for DT and 150 keV for pB¹¹. The required value of ρ·R for pB¹¹ ignition is larger by a factor of 50 or more than for DT, depending on the electron temperature. Furthermore, our ignition criterion obtained here for pB¹¹ fusion is practically impossible for equal electron and ion temperatures. In this paper it is suggested to use a two temperature laser induced shock wave in the intermediate domain between relativistic and non-relativistic shock waves. The laser parameters required for fast ignition are calculated. In particular, we find that for DT case one needs a 3 kJ/1 ps laser to ignite a pre-compressed target at about 600 g/cm³. For pB¹¹ ignition it is necessary to use more than three orders of magnitude of laser energy for the same laser pulse duration.</p> </abstract>