Black-body radiation as an inertial confinement fusion driver

A two-stage driver concept for the ignition of thermonuclear microexplosions is proposed which would eliminate the problem of producing a driver power of >or approximately 1014W. The initial energy, drawn from laser beams, charged particle beams or hypervelocity projectiles, is used to generate an intense black-body radiation source. This black-body radiation is then used to drive the thermonuclear microexplosion target. This concept not only permits the initial driver power to be reduced by about two orders of magnitude but also greatly relaxes the beam-focusing requirements as compared with direct pellet fusion. (UK)