Ignition and burn characteristics of p¹¹B+LiDT+DT fuel

Though p¹¹B fuel is expected to be a neutron-free (or low-neutron-emission) fusion fuel, its ignition is extremely difficult to be achieved than that of DT fuel due to the small fusion cross section and large radiation loss. Use of DT ignitor is one way to ignite p¹¹B fuel though the advantage of low neutron emission in p¹¹B fuel is diminished. When the DT ignitor is use, the fuel should be cooled to cryogenic temperature to solidify DT. To avoid this, the solid target at room temperature (such as LiDT fuel) has been proposed by Blue Laser Fusion Inc. In the present study, we numerically investigated possibilities of ignition and burning of p¹¹B+LiDT+DT fuel on the basis of the burn simulations where a spherically compressed plasma was set as the initial condition, assuming a maximum compression. The simulations were performed by changing the fuel arrangement of DT, LiDT and p¹¹B layers and compositions of p¹¹B and LiDT layers. It is found that DT neutrons plays important roles in ignition and the following propagation burn. In the meeting, we will discuss the ignition requirement, burn characteristics and emitted neutron properties.