Parameters of an ion beam and characteristic features of its slowing-down in a plasma during fast ignition of an inertial fusion target

Abstract

The physics of the heating of an inertial fusion target by a high-energy ion beam under the conditions of fast ignition of fusion reactions is studied theoretically. The characteristic features of the formation of the spatial distribution of the energy transferred to the plasma from a beam of ions with different initial energies, masses, and charges under fast ignition conditions are determined. The notion of the Bragg peak is extended with respect to the spatial distribution of the temperature of the ion-beam-heated medium. The parameters of the ion beams are determined with which to initiate different regimes of fast ignition of a thermonuclear fuel precompressed to a density of 300–500 g/cm 3 —the edge regime, in which the ignition region is formed at the outer boundary of the target, and the internal regime, in which the ignition region is formed within the target and, in particular, in its central parts.