Pellet and reactor chamber designs for high gain laser fusion

The design of a high gain pellet, a reactor chamber and a driver for the laser fusion experimental reactor (LFER) is presented. The several hundred times solid density compression recently achieved at Osaka University and other laboratories have normalized the one-dimensional simulation codes (HIMICO, ILESTA and HISHO), which are now used to design a high gain pellet. Since high ρR causes neutrons to lose energy to plasma ions which carry half of the total fusion energy, an axial magnetic field is applied to confine the expanding plasmas and to lead them to the direct energy converter. As to the driver, the possibility of applying a diode pumped solid state laser to the LFER is considered. The parameter survey indicates that a highly efficient multi-megajoule laser with a few Hz repetition rate can be designed. (author). 14 refs, 7 figs, 1 tab