Low Fuel Convergence Path to Direct-Drive Fusion Ignition.

A new class of inertial fusion capsules is presented that combines multishell targets with laser direct drive at low intensity (2.8×10^{14}  W/cm^{2}) to achieve robust ignition. The targets consist of three concentric, heavy, metal shells, enclosing a volume of tens of μg of liquid deuterium-tritium fuel.

Nonlinear structure of the diffusing gas-metal interface in a thermonuclear plasma.

This Letter describes the theoretical structure of the plasma diffusion layer that develops from an initially sharp gas-metal interface. The layer dynamics under isothermal and isobaric conditions is considered so that only mass diffusion (mixing) processes can occur. The layer develops a distinctive structure with asymmetric and highly nonlinear features.

Knudsen layer reduction of fusion reactivity.

Knudsen layer losses of tail fuel ions can significantly reduce the fusion reactivity of multi-keV DT in capsules with small fuel ρr; sizable yield reduction can result for small inertial confinement fusion (ICF) capsules. This effect is most pronounced when the distance from a burning DT gas region to a nonreacting or cold wall is comparable to the mean free path of reacting fuel ions. A simplified asymptotic theory of Knudsen layer tail depletion is presented and a nonlocal reduced fusion reactivity model is obtained.