Diagnosing inertial confinement fusion ignition
Abstract Fusion ignition by inertial confinement requires compression and heating of the fusion fuel to temperatures in excess of 5 keV and densities exceeding hundreds of g/cc. In August 2021, this scientific milestone was surpassed at the National Ignition Facility (NIF), when the Lawson criterion for ignition was exceeded generating 1.37MJ of fusion energy (Abu-Shawareb et al 2022 Phys. Rev. Lett. 129 075001), and then in December 2022 target gain >1 was realized with the production of 3.1MJ of fusion energy from a target driven by 2.0MJ of laser energy (Abu-Shawareb et al 2024 Phys. Rev. Lett. 132 065102). At the NIF, inertial confinement fusion research primarily uses a laser indirect drive in which the fusion capsule is surrounded by a high-Z enclosure (‘hohlraum’) used to convert the directed laser energy into a symmetric x-ray drive on the capsule. Precise measurements of the plasma conditions, x-rays, γ -rays and neutrons produced are key to understanding the pathway to higher performance. This paper discusses the diagnostics and measurement techniques developed to understand these experiments, focusing on three main topics: (1) key diagnostic developments for achieving igniting plasmas, (2) novel signatures related to thermonuclear burn and (3) advances to diagnostic capabilities in the igniting regime with a perspective toward developments for intertial fusion energy.
Authors
- J. E. Ralph (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3290-7219)
- S. F. Khan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0898-9178)
- N. Lemos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6781-5672)
- Maria Gatu Johnson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2383-1275)
- M. J. Eckart (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6145-5269)
- D. J. Schlossberg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8713-9448)
- M. S. Rubery (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4415-2818)
- M. Millot (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4414-3532)
- Kelly Hahn
- S. Kerr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4822-564X)
- E. L. Dewald (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4054-6967)
- A. S. Moore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2125-8882)
- R. P. J. Town
- R. Tommasini
- L. Divol (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6969-9898)
- J D Moody
- N. Izumi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1114-597X)
- A. G. MacPhee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4160-4479)
- D. N. Fittinghoff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6089-8911)
- A. Pak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8435-3641)
- H. Geppert-Kleinrath
- C. Trosseille (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8943-0482)
- V. Geppert-Kleinrath (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6869-5772)
- O. L. Landen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1499-8217)
- B. Bachmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7992-0018)
- G. P. Grim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9648-3427)
- P. Michel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7584-7420)
- J. P. Holder (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1833-4001)
- A. J. Mackinnon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4380-2906)
- A. B. Zylstra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0489-7479)
- B. Kozioziemski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0578-9349)
- George F. Swadling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8370-8837)
- S. R. Nagel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7768-6819)
- A. Do (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7437-2147)
- M. Hohenberger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5887-9711)
- Johan A. Frenje (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6846-0378)
- K. D. Meaney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1142-7360)
- J. D. Kilkenny
- V. A. Smalyuk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2683-6936)
- D. T. Casey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2125-677X)
- J. S. Ross (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4519-5238)
- P. M. Celliers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7600-1227)
- D. K. Bradley
- R. M. Bionta
- Hui Chen
- Yong Ho Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7527-0134)
- O. A. Hurricane (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8600-5448)
Institutions
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- Fusion (United States) (US)
- Plasma Technology (United States) (US)
- Lawrence Livermore National Security (US)
- Fusion Academy (US)
- General Atomics (United States) (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nuclear Fusion
- Published
- 2024-08-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/ad703b
- Citations
- 6
- Primary Topic
- Laser-Plasma Interactions and Diagnostics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.96
Funders
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory