The National Ignition Campaign: status and progress

Abstract

Abstract. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been operational since March 2009 and a variety of experiments have been completed and many more are planned in support of NIF's mission areas: national security, fundamental science, and fusion energy. NIF capabilities and infrastructure are in place to support all of its missions with over 50 X-ray, optical and nuclear diagnostic systems and the ability to shoot cryogenic targets and DT layered capsules. The NIF has also been qualified for the use of tritium and other special materials as well as to perform high-yield experiments and classified experiments. Implosions with record indirect-drive neutron yield of 7.5  10 14 neutrons have been achieved. NIF, a Nd:Glass laser facility, is routinely operating at 1.6 MJ of ultraviolet (3ω) light on target with very high reliability. It recently reached its design goal of 1.8 MJ and 500 TW of 3ω light on target, and has performed target experiments with 1.9 MJ at peak powers of 410 TW. The National Ignition Campaign (NIC), an international effort with the goal of demonstrating thermonuclear burn in the laboratory, has been making steady progress toward achieving ignition. Other experiments have been completed in support of high-energy science, materials equation of state, and materials strength. In all cases, records of extreme temperatures and pressures, highest neutron yield and highest energy densities have been achieved. This paper will describe the unprecedented experimental capabilities of the NIF and the results achieved so far on the path toward ignition.

Ferroelectric materials for fusion energy applications

“…1 Nuclear fusion reaction of deuterium and tritium in a plasma. 19 All technologies will likely face similar (and extended) problems and challenges for space and materials opportunities. E-mail: markys.…”

Subsurface mechanical damage during bound abrasive grinding of fused silica glass

“…Since laser damage grows during successive laser shots, the optic lifetime is therefore drastically reduced. Consequently, reducing the SSD introduced during the whole polishing process is a major objective to produce high damage threshold optics in the context of high energy laser facilities such as Laser Megajoule (LMJ) [3] or National Ignition Facility (NIF) [4]. In this paper, we focus on optimizing the bound abrasive grinding of these optical components.…”

Magneto-inertial fusion: A new approach towards fusion energy

“…目前, 仿星器 的代表装置为德国的 Wendelstein 7-X [9] (W7-X). 该 设施的总成本为 3 [10] , 是美国唯一可以模拟现代核 装置中心物质状态的实验实施. NIF 装置的主要目标 是, 在不通过地下核试验的情况下, 确保美国核武器 库存的安全及可靠性 1) .…”

“…在峰值压缩时, 热斑的密度约 10 25 cm −3 , 热 斑温度达到 5 keV, 能量约束时间约 0.15 ns [2] . 2012 年, 美国未能实现 NIC (National Ignition Campaign) 计 划 [10] 中的点火目标, 使人们认识到激光 ICF 仍有许 多问题需要解决. 激光器的能量是一个重要的制约 因素, 在现有激光器的能量水平下, 是否能够仅通过 对激光波形整形以及对靶丸的物理设计来实现聚变 点火仍不明确.…”