Laser requirements for inertial fusion energy target designs

The recent demonstration of ignition and target gain more than 1 in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments at the National Ignition Facility has spurred great interest in both public and private sectors of inertial fusion energy (IFE). Although such remarkable progress in ICF provides a critical step in basic ignition physic validation, a substantial amount of work remains to demonstrate not only that implosion physics can meet the high-gain requirements for IFE (when a ratio of neutron yield to incident laser energy ~100), but also that target and laser technology can be developed to efficiently drive these implosions. The high-gain requirements also necessitates a high laser–energy coupling fraction to the target, which implies that various coupling loss mechanisms due to laser–plasma instabilities (LPIs) are mitigated. Recent advances in laser technology have demonstrated the promise of broadband lasers for LPI mitigation. This talk will discuss requirements for laser drivers that are consistent with current understanding of implosion physics and mass production target technology.