Alpha Particle Return Currents Change the Diffusion of Mix Jets

Carbon and other impurities can enter inertial confinement fusion fuel in jets. The higher Z material is more radiative, quenching the fusion burn. There are some experimental indications that this mix is spreading rapidly across the fuel hot-spot at close to bang time. The mix jet contains very little fuel and has a low temperature, meaning fusion barely occurs within it. This results in a current of fast fusion alpha particles from the hotter region into the jet. This will cause a resistive return current that changes the plasma diffusion rate of these contaminants across the fuel. We explore this effect with Vlasov-Fokker-Planck simulations.