Abstract
The pursuit of achieving controlled thermonuclear fusion has occupied many scientists since the potential benefits of the process were recognized and serious work began on it over 45 years ago. The two primary approaches to controlled fusion are magnetic confinement fusion and inertial confinement fusion (ICF). Inertial fusion uses high intensity lasers or particle beams to implode a capsule containing thermonuclear fuel. High implosion velocities are required (>3 × 107 cm/sec) so that, on fraction of the fuel (the spark plug) is sufficient to ignite the spark and initiate propagating bum through the main fuel mass. There are two principal ICF approaches to using lasers to implode a fuel capsule: direct and indirect drive. This paper presents a tutorial discussion of the physics of both direct- and indirect-drive laser fusion.
© 1995 Optical Society of America
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