Laser-Driven Implosion of Spherical DT Targets to Thermonuclear Burn Conditions

Abstract

Calculations predict that carefully timed laser pulses can implode small DT spheres and shells to extreme densities such that thermonuclear burn ensues. We characterize the implosion quality as a function of the pulse time scale, growth law, and initial intensity. Phenomenological rules for mass scaling, input energy threshold, and yield ratio $Y_R=\frac{E_{\mathrm{out}}}{E_{\mathrm{in}}}$ are presented. We find that $Y_R=4.7\mathrm{}$ for only 1.9 kJ of C${\mathrm{O}}_2$ laser input energy to a 3-μg shell. The performance of shells is compared to spheres.