Progress on the Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator II for light ion fusion

Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator II (PBFA II) at Sandia National Laboratories is the largest in the series of particle beam drivers and the first with the potential of achieving the necessary energy and power density required for igniting thermonuclear fuel in the laboratory. PBFA II is a series of experiments in pulsed power, power flow, ion sources, lithium ion beam generation, beam transport, beam focussing, radiation physics and implosion hydrodynamics. If these challenging experiments are successfully completed, then thermonuclear fuel may be ignited in the laboratory for the first time. Because of the large number of research items in series, the risk is very high and the experiments will require many years of intensive effort. On December 15, 1985, PBFA II construction was completed and the accelerator was activated. Since that time, the pulsed power has been developed and major experiments in power flow and ion sources have been conducted. Preliminary experiments on beam generation have also been conducted. The accelerator is currently operating and providing one fully diagnosed experiment each week. The PBFA II program and the results to date with this technology will be presented