Design of an inertial fusion experiment exceeding the Lawson criterion for ignition

A L Kritcher; A B Zylstra; D A Callahan; O A Hurricane; C R Weber; D S Clark; C V Young; J E Ralph; D T Casey; A Pak; O L Landen; B Bachmann; K L Baker; L Berzak Hopkins; S D Bhandarkar; J Biener; R M Bionta; N W Birge; T Braun; T M Briggs; P M Celliers; H Chen; C Choate; L Divol; T Döppner; D Fittinghoff; M J Edwards; M Gatu Johnson; N Gharibyan; S Haan; K D Hahn; E Hartouni; D E Hinkel; D D Ho; M Hohenberger; J P Holder; H Huang; N Izumi; J Jeet; O Jones; S M Kerr; S F Khan; H Geppert Kleinrath; V Geppert Kleinrath; C Kong; K M Lamb; S Le Pape; N C Lemos; J D Lindl; B J MacGowan; A J Mackinnon; A G MacPhee; E V Marley; K Meaney; M Millot; A S Moore; K Newman; J-M G Di Nicola; A Nikroo; R Nora; P K Patel; N G Rice; M S Rubery; J Sater; D J Schlossberg; S M Sepke; K Sequoia; S J Shin; M Stadermann; S Stoupin; D J Strozzi; C A Thomas; R Tommasini; C Trosseille; E R Tubman; P L Volegov; C Wild; D T Woods; S T Yang

doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.106.025201

Design of an inertial fusion experiment exceeding the Lawson criterion for ignition

Phys Rev E. 2022 Aug;106(2-2):025201. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.106.025201.

Authors

A L Kritcher¹, A B Zylstra¹, D A Callahan¹, O A Hurricane¹, C R Weber¹, D S Clark¹, C V Young¹, J E Ralph¹, D T Casey¹, A Pak¹, O L Landen¹, B Bachmann¹, K L Baker¹, L Berzak Hopkins¹, S D Bhandarkar¹, J Biener¹, R M Bionta¹, N W Birge², T Braun¹, T M Briggs¹, P M Celliers¹, H Chen¹, C Choate¹, L Divol¹, T Döppner¹, D Fittinghoff¹, M J Edwards¹, M Gatu Johnson³, N Gharibyan¹, S Haan¹, K D Hahn¹, E Hartouni¹, D E Hinkel¹, D D Ho¹, M Hohenberger¹, J P Holder¹, H Huang⁴, N Izumi¹, J Jeet¹, O Jones¹, S M Kerr¹, S F Khan¹, H Geppert Kleinrath², V Geppert Kleinrath², C Kong⁴, K M Lamb², S Le Pape⁵, N C Lemos¹, J D Lindl¹, B J MacGowan¹, A J Mackinnon¹, A G MacPhee¹, E V Marley¹, K Meaney², M Millot¹, A S Moore¹, K Newman¹, J-M G Di Nicola¹, A Nikroo¹, R Nora¹, P K Patel¹, N G Rice⁴, M S Rubery¹, J Sater¹, D J Schlossberg¹, S M Sepke¹, K Sequoia⁴, S J Shin¹, M Stadermann¹, S Stoupin¹, D J Strozzi¹, C A Thomas⁶, R Tommasini¹, C Trosseille¹, E R Tubman¹, P L Volegov², C Wild⁷, D T Woods¹, S T Yang¹

Affiliations

¹ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94551-0808, USA.
² Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mail Stop F663, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
³ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
⁴ General Atomics, San Diego, California 92186, USA.
⁵ Laboratoire pour l'utilisation des Lasers Intenses chez École Polytechnique, F-91128 Palaiseau cedex, France.
⁶ Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
⁷ Diamond Materials Gmbh, 79108 Freiburg, Germany.

PMID: 36110025
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.106.025201

Abstract

We present the design of the first igniting fusion plasma in the laboratory by Lawson's criterion that produced 1.37 MJ of fusion energy, Hybrid-E experiment N210808 (August 8, 2021) [Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 075001 (2022)10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.075001]. This design uses the indirect drive inertial confinement fusion approach to heat and compress a central "hot spot" of deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel using a surrounding dense DT fuel piston. Ignition occurs when the heating from absorption of α particles created in the fusion process overcomes the loss mechanisms in the system for a duration of time. This letter describes key design changes which enabled a ∼3-6× increase in an ignition figure of merit (generalized Lawson criterion) [Phys. Plasmas 28, 022704 (2021)1070-664X10.1063/5.0035583, Phys. Plasmas 25, 122704 (2018)1070-664X10.1063/1.5049595]) and an eightfold increase in fusion energy output compared to predecessor experiments. We present simulations of the hot-spot conditions for experiment N210808 that show fundamentally different behavior compared to predecessor experiments and simulated metrics that are consistent with N210808 reaching for the first time in the laboratory "ignition."