High-gain direct-drive inertial confinement fusion for the Laser Mégajoule: recent progress

Abstract

Recent progress in high-gain direct-drive inertial confinement fusion with the laser Mégajoule is reviewed. A new baseline direct-drive target design is presented which implodes with a two-cones irradiation pattern of indirect-drive beam configuration and zooming. Perturbation amplitudes and correlated growth rates of hydrodynamic instabilities in the compressed core of a directly driven inertial confinement fusion capsule are analyzed in planar and spherical geometries, with and without heat conduction, in the unsteady state regime of the deceleration. Shock propagation in heterogeneous media is addressed in the context of first shock. The neutron and photon emissions of high-gain direct-drive target are characterized. Numerical interpretations of directly driven homothetic cryogenic D2 target implosion experiments on the Omega facility are presented.