Abstract
A new project is underway at the National Ignition Facility with the goal of applying a seed magnetic field to the fusion fuel in an indirect drive hohlraum implosion and quantifying the effect on the hot-spot temperature, shape and neutron yield. Magnetizing fusion fuel is calculated to reduce heat loss from the implosion core by constraining the motion of electrons and fusion-generated alpha particles; this can improve the chances of achieving high-gain fusion in a laboratory plasma. We describe the goals of this project and the significant scientific and technological challenges which must be overcome for this project to succeed.
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This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 and by the LLNL-LDRD program under Project Number 20-SI-002.
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Moody, J.D., Pollock, B.B., Sio, H. et al. The Magnetized Indirect Drive Project on the National Ignition Facility. J Fusion Energ 41, 7 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10894-022-00319-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10894-022-00319-7