Fuel–ablator mix has been established as a major performance degrading effect in the burning plasma regime of recent inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. As such, study fuel–ablator with experiments and simulations can provide valuable insight for our understanding these establish path even higher yields increased robustness. We present novel high-yield experimental ICF design that is...

SG-III laser facility is now the largest laser driver for inertial confinement fusion research in China. The whole laser facility can deliver 180 kJ energy and 60 TW power ultraviolet laser onto target, with power balance better than 10%. We review the laser system and introduce the SG-III laser performance here.

A stable 3-microm-wavelength, GaSb-based diode operated at room temperature has been investigated as a potential laser source for cryogenic target layering at the Omega Laser Facility for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. More than 50 mW of output power has been achieved at 14 degrees C with high spectral and output-power stability.

The National Ignition Facility, construction for which will be completed in March, 2009, will be the highest energy laser ever built. The high temperatures and densities it will produce will enable a number of experiments in inertial confinement fusion and stockpile stewardship, as well as in nuclear astrophysics, X-ray astronomy, laser-plasma interactions, hydrodynamics, and planetary science.

LLE Review, Volume 72 161 The Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) with its OMEGA facility is part of the national laser-fusion effort within the U.S. Department of Energy and has as its main mission direct-drive laser-fusion research in support of the upcoming National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The upgraded OMEGA laser system has been in ope...

Intense heavy-ion beams have long been considered a promising driver option for inertial-fusion energy production. This paper briefly compares inertial confinement fusion (ICF) to the more-familiar magneticconfinement approach and presents some advantages of using beams of heavy ions to drive ICF instead of lasers. Key design choices in heavy-ion fusion (HIF) facilities are discussed, particula...

156 LLE Review, Volume 92 Introduction In inertial confinement fusion1 experiments, shells filled with deuterium (D2) or a deuterium–tritium (DT) mixture are heated by either direct laser illumination or soft x-ray radiation in a laser-heated hohlraum. The target is compressed to conditions under which thermonuclear fusion occurs. The most-promising target designs consist of a layered cryogenic...