The enhancement of energy gain in a p6Li inertial fusion reactor by laser-driven protons

Abstract

For the ignition of p6Li fuel, two important challenges emerge: the losses of energy and the need for high-temperature electrons and ions. To provide favourable conditions, these problems should be reduced as much as possible. An approach for reducing ignition energy is proposed which is the use of proton beam in fast ignition with inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The protons can fuse with ions and produce additional energy. The determination of this energy enhancement and the investigation of influential parameters can have a significant role in increasing energy gain. The stopping power is examined. The produced excess energy and the total energy are estimated. The investigations indicate that total stopping power is a function of proton energy and it decreases with rising temperature. The additional energy depends on the beam energy and the electron temperature. The extra energy gain is considerable at low proton energy and high electron temperature.