Some of the basic questions pertinent to the feasibility of heavy ion fusion are reconsidered with HIBALL I as the ‘standard’ HIF senario. The questions are quantified by developing scaling laws that enable the cost and capacity of HIBALL-like power plants to be varied.

Recent progress on accelerator and systems studies carried out in the framework of a national program on heavy ion fusion is reviewed. Plans for future investigations aiming at the basic aspects of inertial confinement with heavy ion beams are discussed.

In this paper recent simulation studies at GSI on instabilities and emittance growth for different particle distributions and initial experimental results with the 12-lens section of the University of Maryland electron beam transport channel are reviewed.

We review some equations that must be satisfied when generating rf-linac/storage-ring systems for heavy ion fusion. To treat the phase-space constraints, we derive new formulae for separate transverse and longitudinal available dilution factors in terms of parameters of the rf-linac/storage-ring system. We outline a method for generating accelerator designs that satisfy target, current amplification, phase-space, and spacecharge constraints.

The facilities and activities of inertial confinement fusion research in Japan are reviewed. The key institute is ILE Osaka University where the implosion scheme of the “Cannonball Target” has been investigated in experiments and computer simulations to overcome the critical issues in inertial confinement fusion.

Design studies of a laser fusion reactor SENRI-I are presented, including the related analyses and experiments. The unique feature of SENRI-I is the utilization of the static magnetic field to control and guide the liquid Li flow. Neutronics calculations (1D–3D) show that the sufficient T breeding ratio is obtained and the streaming neutrons are reduced by a devised design of laser port. Analysis of damage of the wall covered by an inner Li flow shows that the long lifetime is assured.

This survey is devoted to a few basic atomic problems associated with the stopping of nonrelativistic pointlike ions in dense and hot matter, and also to the Stark broadening diagnostics of the resulting beam-produced plasmas.

First, we consider the free electron contribution, taken in the RPA approximation with an exact dynamic dielectric function, valid at any temperature. Therefore, we obtain stopping power and straggling for any projectile velocity. The temperature dependence is of special relevance for a projectile energy smaller than 5 MeV/a.m.u.

Next, we revise the Barkas effect (Z3 corrections) through a novel and compact formulation, which is based on an analogy with electron impact broadening theory. It facilitates inclusion of the non hydrogenic and electronic structure of the target ions, in a more selective way. The results may increase the usual Z2-stopping by 15 to 30 per cent corrections.

Then, we show how the Stark broadening diagnostics of the compressed D + T fuel, seeded with high Z species, arising from the surrounding envelopes, may provide accurate determination of the electron number density ne. In this connection, it should be appreciated that the relatively long compression times (≃ 20 nsec) suggested by the HIBALL numerical simulation allow for a nearly Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE) state in the target, with Te ≃ Ti. As a consequence, spectroscopic measurements are expected to be easier to implement in HIF targets, than in laser ones.

A tentative proposal for the use of Stark broadening diagnostics of inflight excited and highly stripped ion projectiles is displayed in § 5.

Experiments involving an HIB produced by a standard accelerator, and interacting with an independently produced coronal plasma are finally outlined.

All preceding hydrodynamic computations of plasmas need correction if the thermal conductivity is used because electronic thermal conductivity is decreased on plasma inhomogeneities due to electrostatic double layers. In the worst case, ionic conductivity remains. We compare this with a possible electronic conductivity by the fast tail of the energy distribution. Using the volume ignition for fusion gain computations, we study the increase of gain by spin-polarization of nuclei for the DT reaction especially in nonlinear ranges. Gain can increase by a factor of 3·1.

The charge distribution of an incident ion as a function of projectile velocity, its range and its average equilibrium charge are studied theoretically. The calculations are made only for an atomic hydrogen gas target. The charge of the ion is determined by the equilibrium between electron loss from the ion and electron capature from a hydrogen atom to the ion. The charge states of the ions are calculated in two cases; to assume a local balance condition for electron loss and capture and to solve a rate equation for the charge state fraction function under non-local balance conditions, both only taking into account single electron loss and capture processes. In the calculations we use empirical formulae for electron loss and capture cross section by making some simplifications. Calculations for the charge state fraction as functions of ion ranges under non-equilibrium conditions have been carried out in the cases of Ne, Ar, and Xe ions. Calculations for the charge state under local balance conditions have been made in the cases of C, Ne, Ar, Kr, I, and U ions.

When a heavy ion beam passes through a plasma in reactor chamber, it scatters some plasma electrons in the direction perpendicular to that of beam propagation. The presence of such electrons causes an instability to deflect the beam from the target pellet. The instability is analyzed by coupled equations for density and temperature for the electrons, and numerical results are given.