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Inertial Confinement Fusion

Inertial Confinement Fusion The basic concept for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) was born in early 1961 as a confluence of the invention of the laser a few months earlier and basic research in nuclear fusion which had been ongoing largely in US national laboratories for over fifteen years. The basic concept was that energy from an intense laser beam or other directed energy source (the driver) would be tightly focused on the outside of a tiny pellet containing deuterium and tritium fuel. By heating the outside of the pellet rapidly, the laser would cause the outer surface to blow off rapidly, as if exploding, and (in a rocket-like action and reaction) compress the fuel inside to very high densities and very high temperatures. This sequence is shown schematically in Figure 1. The basic nuclear fusion reaction that would then occur is the same as that being studied in the magnetic confinement fusion program or that occurring in the sun and the stars. The deuterium and tritium atoms would fuse at these high temperatures and pressures, producing smaller and lighter helium atoms, and a significant yield of energy. In magnetic confinement fusion, strong magnetic fields are used to confine and isolate a http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annual Review of Environment and Resources Annual Reviews

Inertial Confinement Fusion

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Publisher
Annual Reviews
Copyright
Copyright 1980 Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
Subject
Review Articles
ISSN
1543-5938
DOI
10.1146/annurev.eg.05.110180.000341
Publisher site
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Abstract

The basic concept for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) was born in early 1961 as a confluence of the invention of the laser a few months earlier and basic research in nuclear fusion which had been ongoing largely in US national laboratories for over fifteen years. The basic concept was that energy from an intense laser beam or other directed energy source (the driver) would be tightly focused on the outside of a tiny pellet containing deuterium and tritium fuel. By heating the outside of the pellet rapidly, the laser would cause the outer surface to blow off rapidly, as if exploding, and (in a rocket-like action and reaction) compress the fuel inside to very high densities and very high temperatures. This sequence is shown schematically in Figure 1. The basic nuclear fusion reaction that would then occur is the same as that being studied in the magnetic confinement fusion program or that occurring in the sun and the stars. The deuterium and tritium atoms would fuse at these high temperatures and pressures, producing smaller and lighter helium atoms, and a significant yield of energy. In magnetic confinement fusion, strong magnetic fields are used to confine and isolate a

Journal

Annual Review of Environment and Resources – Annual Reviews

Published: Nov 1, 1980

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