In the previous works (Rozanov et al., 2013; 2015) we have performed one-dimensional (1D) numerical simulations of the target compression and burning at the absorbed energy of ~1.5 MJ. As a result, the target was chosen to have a low initial aspect ratio in order to be less sensitive to the influence of such parameters as laser pulse duration, total laser energy, and equations of state model. The simulation results demonstrated a higher probability of ignition and effective burning of such a system. In the present work we discuss the impact of irradiation asymmetry on this baseline target implosion. The details of the 1D compression and a possible influence of 2D and 3D effects due to the hydrodynamic instability and mixing have been described. In accordance with the 2D calculations the target is still ignited, however, the symmetry analysis of 3D ones gives reasons to further reduce the efficiency of conversion of kinetic energy into potential energy.

It is shown that there is a principal possibility of effective burning with gain G > 200 of ecologically clean DHe3 fuel in reactor-type targets without increase of driver energy. The proper target consists of DHe3 fuel and a D-T ignitor with a central hot spark. Under proper conditions, the D-T burning wave reaches the DHe3 range with the temperature sufficient for ignition of DHe3 plasma. The simulation was carried out by means of TERA code based upon self-consistent solution of a kinetic equations system for products of primary and secondary thermonuclear reactions by the Monte Carlo method and a hydrodynamic equations system.

Theoretical and experimental studies of radiative properties of hot dense plasmas that are used as soft X-ray sources have been carried out depending on the plasma composition. Important features of the theoretical model, which can be used for complex materials, are discussed. An optimizing procedure that can determine an effective complex material to produce optically thick plasma by laser interaction with a thick solid target is applied. The efficiency of the resulting material is compared with the efficiency of other composite materials that have previously been evaluated theoretically. It is shown that the optimizing procedure does, in practice, find higher radiation efficiency materials than have been found by previous authors. Similar theoretical research is performed for the optically thin plasma produced from exploding wires. Theoretical estimations of radiative efficiency are compared with experimental data that are obtained from measurements of X-pinch radiation energy yield using two exploding wire materials, NiCr and Alloy 188. It is shown that theoretical calculations agree well with the experimental data.

This paper is devoted to the investigation of powerful laser pulse interaction with regularly and statistically volume-structured media with near critical average density and properties of laser-produced plasma of such a media. The results of the latest experiments on laser pulse interaction with plane foam targets performed on Nd-laser facilities “ABC” in the ENEA-EURATOM Association (Frascati, Italy) and “MISHEN” in the Troitsk Institute of Innovation Thermonuclear Investigations (TRINITI, Troitsk Russia), and J-laser “ISKRA-4” in the Russian Federal Nuclear Center, All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF, Sarov, Russia) are presented and analyzed. High efficiency of the internal volume absorption of laser radiation in the foams of supercritical density was observed, and the dynamics of absorbing region formation and velocity of energy transfer process versus the parameters of porous matter are found. Some inertial confinement fusion (ICF) applications based on nonequilibrium properties of laser-produced plasma of a foam and regularly structured media such as the powerful neutron source with yield of 109–1011 DT-neutrons per 1 J of laser energy, laser-produced X-ray generation in high temperature supercritical plasma, and the compact ICF target absorbers providing effective smoothing and ablation are proposed.

A possibility of input of high-power laser pulse into a cavity through a hole was studied by means of 2D numerical calculations. Such tasks appear in view of investigation of the effective targets with internal input of energy (Bessarab et al. 1992; Basov et al. 1998), “cannon-ball” (Hogan 1989), “Greenhouse” targets (Gus'kov et al. 1995).

We have used two Euler codes “NUTCY” and “FAKEL” to model the problems of laser beam input into a cavity through the holes.