High-density and high-ρR fuel assembly for fast-ignition inertial confinement fusion

Scaling relations to optimize implosion parameters for fast-ignition inertial confinement fusion are derived and used to design high-gain fast-ignition targets. A method to assemble thermonuclear fuel at high densities, high ρR, and with a small-size hot spot is presented. Massive cryogenic shells can be imploded with a low implosion velocity VI on a low adiabat α using the relaxation-pulse technique. While the low VI yields a small hot spot, the low α leads to large peak values of the density and areal density. It is shown that a 750 kJ laser can assemble fuel with VI≅1.7x107 cm/s, α≅0.7, ρ≅400 g/cc, ρR≅3 g/cm2, and a hot-spot volume of less than 10% of the compressed core. If fully ignited, this fuel assembly can produce high gains of interest to inertial fusion energy applications