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Computations for nonlinear force driven plasma blocks by picosecond laser pulses for fusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2005

Y. CANG
Affiliation:
School of Quantitative Methods and Mathematical Science, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, Australia (f.osman@uws.edu.au) Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China
F. OSMAN
Affiliation:
School of Quantitative Methods and Mathematical Science, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, Australia (f.osman@uws.edu.au)
H. HORA
Affiliation:
School of Quantitative Methods and Mathematical Science, University of Western Sydney, Penrith, Australia (f.osman@uws.edu.au) Department of Theoretical Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
J. ZHANG
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China
J. BADZIAK
Affiliation:
Institute for Plasma Physics and Laser Micro-Fusion, Warsaw, Poland
J. WOLOWSKI
Affiliation:
Institute for Plasma Physics and Laser Micro-Fusion, Warsaw, Poland
K. JUNGWIRTH
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics and PALS, ASCR, Prague, Czech Republic
K. ROHLENA
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics and PALS, ASCR, Prague, Czech Republic
J. ULLSCHMIED
Affiliation:
Institute of Physics and PALS, ASCR, Prague, Czech Republic

Abstract

The concept of the fast ignitor for laser fusion has led to some modifications in applying petawatt-picosecond (PW-ps) laser-produced high intensity particle beams to ignite deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel. Some very anomalous measurements of ion emission from targets irradiated by picosecond laser pulses led to the development of a skin depth interaction scheme where a defined control of prepulses is necessary. Based on these experimental facts, we have applied a one-dimensional two-fluid hydrodynamic code to understand how the nonlinear ponderomotive force generates two plasma blocks, one moving against the laser light (ablation) and the other moving into the target. This compressed block produces an ion current density of above 10$^{11}$ A cm$^{-2}$ and an ion energy of about 100 keV. This may be a rather promising option to use PW-ps laser pulses for igniting fusion in solid density DT fuel, realizing very high gain controlled fusion reactions.

Type
Papers
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

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