Performance Optimization of High-Yield Inertial Confinement Fusion Implosions

The goal of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions is to create a self-heating central region (hot spot) and launch a burn wave into the main fuel. Reaching ignition conditions in the hot spot requires maximizing the product of the hot-spot pressure and radius (p_hsR_hs) so that the Lawson criterion is satisfied. On the other hand, the efficient burn of the main fuel and high yields (> 100 MJ) require a fuel areal density in excess of ρR > 1.5 g/cm² and a hot-spot temperature of T_hs > 30 keV. This talk revisits the dependencies of key fuel metrics at peak compression (p_hs, R_hs, ρR) on implosion parameters (implosion velocity, ablation pressure, fuel adiabat, etc.) and defines a strategy for achieving ignition and robust high yields in ICF implosions, considering limitations imposed by hydrodynamic instabilities and laser-plasma interaction physics.