guest ::
| Home > Publications database > Optimisation of Ignitor Beam Properties in Proton Fast Ignition |
| Home > Publications database > Optimisation of Ignitor Beam Properties in Proton Fast Ignition |
| Conference Presentation (Invited) | FZJ-2024-04682 |
2024
This record in other databases:
Please use a persistent id in citations: doi:10.34734/FZJ-2024-04682
Abstract: The recent ignition success at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [1] has boosted the exploitation of Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) as a potential carbon-free energy source, and has also boosted the exploration of alternative ignition schemes [2] with potentially much higher energy gains, such as the proton fast ignition concept pursued by Focused Energy (FE). Proton fast ignition [3], a variant of laser-driven inertial confinement fusion potentially providing much higher energy gain with lower driver energies than conventional hot-spot ignition, is studied with the aim of optimising the conversion efficiency of the short-pulse laser into proton beam energy. To trigger fusion reactions, the ignitor beam needs to carry around 20kJ at several MeV/u into a compressed deuterium-tritium fuel pellet. At FE, we have established a vigorous computational effort to explore and optimize the underlying multiscale physical processes of the proton fast ignition scheme using a combination of multidimensional radiation-hydrodynamics and kinetic particle-in-cell simulation. High-fidelity numerical modelling is key to gaining quantitative understanding of the complex, kinetic behaviour inherent to laser-driven proton acceleration in fusion-relevant scenarios, where experimental data is still scarce. Such an undertaking is computationally expensive, requiring HPC resources upwards of 10s to 100s of million core-hours, but delivers vital guidance for the design of planned experimental facilities.[1] J. Tollefson and E. Gibney, Nature 612, 597-598 (2022).[2] M. Tabak et al., Phys. Plasmas 1, 1626 (1994); M. Roth et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 436 (2001).[3] T. Ditmire et al., J. Fusion Energy 42, 27 (2023).
|
The record appears in these collections: |
PDF
Fulltext