Laser-Driven Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion on OMEGA

Laser-driven magnetized liner inertial fusion (MagLIF) has been developed on the OMEGA Laser System in a joint SNL-LLE project funded by ARPA-E. MagLIF relies on compressing cylindrical, magnetized, and preheated plasma to achieve fusion with inertial confinement. The magnetic field reduces electron heat flow into the shell (liner), allowing compressional heating at implosion velocities < 200 km/s, and confines the alpha particles, replacing the radial areal density requirement for ignition with a BR requirement of 0.6 T m. Preheating to > 100 eV reduces the fuel convergence ratio required to achieve fusion temperatures to < 30. MagLIF experiments on Z have achieved temperatures of 3 keV, BR of 0.4 T m, and DD neutron yields of 10¹³. However, these are the only MagLIF experiments being carried out. Laser-driven MagLIF on OMEGA is providing the first experimental data on scaling, with 1000× less drive energy and targets 10× smaller in linear dimensions. OMEGA also allows more shots than Z with better diagnostic access and a greater dynamic range. OMEGA targets are 0.6-mm-outer-diam, 20-μm-thick, D₂-filled plastic cylinders. MIFEDS (magneto-inertial fusion electrical discharge system) provides an axial magnetic field up to 28 T (the highest to date). A single OMEGA beam preheats the D₂ up to 200 eV, and then 40 OMEGA beams delivering 14 kJ compress the target. A full overview of the project will be given, from the initial point design process, preheat experiments, compression optimization experiments, up to the most recent fully integrated experiments.