A. Kritcher, D. Schlossberg, C. Weber, C. Young, E. Dewald, A. Zylstra, O. Hurricane, A. Allen, B. Bachmann, K. Baker, S. Baxamusa, T. Braun, G. Brunton, D. Callahan, D. Casey, T. Chapman, C. Choate, D. Clark, J.-M. Di Nicola, L. Divol, M. Edwards, S. Haan, T. Fehrenbach, S. Hayes, D. Hinkel, M. Hohenberger, K. Humbird, O. Jones, E. Kur, B. Kustowski, C. Kong, O. Landen, D. Larson, X. Lepro-Chavez, J. Lindl, B. MacGowan, S. Maclaren, M. Marinak, M. Millot, A. Nikroo, R. Nora, A. Pak, P. Patel, J. Ralph, M. Ratledge, M. Rubery, S. Sepke, M. Stadermann, D. Strozzi, T. Suratwala, R. Tommasini, R. Town, B. Woodworth, B. Van Wonterghem, C. Wild
An exciting use of high powered lasers is to inertially confine fusion plasmas in the laboratory. This presentation describes the first design to achieve controlled fusion target gain exceeding one using high powered lasers in the inertial confinement fusion approach and recent experimental results on the NIF (National Ignition Facility). In these experiments, laser beams incident on the inside of a cylindrical can (Hohlraum) generates an intense x-ray radiation bath that is used to spherically implode pellets containing Deuterium and Tritium. On Dec 5th 2022, the imploded pellet generated more fusion energy (3.15 MJ) than laser energy incident on the target (2.05 MJ), reaching a milestone for the field that was more than six decades in the making. Follow on experiments in this platform using 2.2 MJ of laser energy have generated >5 MJ and >2x target gain.
Among possible approaches to fusion energy, we regard the Proton Fast Ignition (PFI) as the most credible. PFI as an alternate route to ignition was triggered by the discovery of ultra-bright beams of protons produced by ultra-intense lasers.
Protons are advantageous to other ion species and electrons. Because of their highest ionic charge-to-mass ratio, they are accelerated most efficiently up to the highest energies. They can penetrate deep into a target to reach the high-density region, where the hot spot is to be formed. And they exhibit a characteristic maximum energy deposition at the end of their range, desirable to heat a localized volume. Thus, Focused Energy Inc. has chosen PFI for the primary pathway to fusion energy.
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