Fabrication, Injection, and Tracking of Fast Ignition Targets: Status and Future Prospects

Abstract

The current status of the fabrication, injection, and tracking of fast ignition targets is summarized including on cryogenic technologies for direct-drive, laser fusion targets with and without a reentrant guide cone for additional heating lasers. The fabrication of low-density foam and the drilling of fragile foam shells are current issues in the fabrication of fast ignition targets with reentrant cones. Fuel loading to the targets is a challenging issue in the mass-production process of the targets for a fusion power plant. Two fuel-loading methods are proposed for the fast ignition target with the cone. Preliminary experiments of injection and tracking of real-size targets have started showing promising results.