Experimentally Inferred Fusion Yield Dependencies of OMEGA Inertial Confinement Fusion Implosions
A Lees1,2, R Betti1,2,3, J P Knauer1
1Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623, USA.
Abstract:
Statistical modeling of experimental and simulation databases has enabled the development of an accurate predictive capability for deuterium-tritium layered cryogenic implosions at the OMEGA laser [V. Gopalaswamy et al.,Nature 565, 581 (2019)10.1038/s41586-019-0877-0]. In this letter, a physics-based statistical mapping framework is described and used to uncover the dependencies of the fusion yield. This model is used to identify and quantify the degradation mechanisms of the fusion yield in direct-drive implosions on OMEGA. The yield is found to be reduced by the ratio of laser beam to target radius, the asymmetry in inferred ion temperatures from the ℓ=1 mode, the time span over which tritium fuel has decayed, and parameters related to the implosion hydrodynamic stability. When adjusted for tritium decay and ℓ=1 mode, the highest yield in OMEGA cryogenic implosions is predicted to exceed 2×10^{14} fusion reactions.
Related Concept Videos
Nuclear Fusion
A helium nucleus has a mass that is 0.7% less than that of four hydrogen nuclei; this lost mass is converted into energy during the fusion. This reaction produces about...
Nuclear Fission
Nuclear Stability
To hold positively charged protons together...
Nuclear Binding Energy
Nuclear Transmutation
Conservation of Mass in Finite Cotrol Volume
A system is defined as a collection of unchanging contents, and the conservation of mass states that a system's mass is constant.


