Deuterium laser fusion

Laser fusion, (a) A mixture of deuterium and tritium is sealed inside tire tiny capsule (1 mm in diameter] at the tip of the laser target. 

Gamma-ray laser action is a further related field which has attracted much efforts [9.306], Laser-driven (inertial confinement) fusion using the largest laser installation is a huge research field for laser-nuclear interaction [9.307]. The laser energy requirements for conventional laser-driven deuterium-tritium fusion seem to be difficult to reach. This has stimulated the development of a modified concept, the /ast igniter scheme, where an extremely intense (petawatt) laser pulse is fired into the pre-compressed plasma [9.308]. 

Ditmire T, Zweiback J, Yanovsky V P, Cowan T E, Hays G and Wharton K B 1999 Nuclear fusion from explosions of femtosecond laser-heated deuterium clusters Nature 389 489-92... 

Laser-Assisted Thermonuclear Fusion. An application with great potential importance, but which will not reach complete fmition for many years, is laser-assisted thermonuclear fusion (117) (see Fusion energy). The concept iavolves focusiag a high power laser beam onto a mixture of deuterium [7782-39-0] and tritium [10028-17-8] gases. The mixture is heated to a temperature around 10 K (10 keV) (see Deuterium AMD tritium). At this temperature the thermonuclear fusion reaction... 

Another approach to nuclear fusion is shown in Figure 19.6. Tiny glass pellets (about 0.1 nun in diameter) filled with frozen deuterium and tritium serve as a target. The pellets are illuminated by a powerful laser beam, which delivers 1012 kilowatts of power in one nanosecond (10 9 s). The reaction is the same as with magnetic confinement unfortunately, at this point energy breakeven seems many years away. 

In laser- and particle-beam-driven ICF, a millimetre-scale capsule of deuterium and tritium (D-T) would be imploded to create a sufficiently high density (-10 g cm ) and temperature (-10 keV) at the centre to ignite the thermonuclear reaction D-(-T He+n-i-17.6 MeV. The fusion burn would then propagate through the surrounding... 

Nuclear fusion provides the energy of our sun and other stars. Development of controlled fusion as a practical source of energy requires methods to initiate and contain the fusion process. Here a very powerful laser beam has initiated a fusion reaction in a 1-mm target capsule that contained deuterium and tritium. In a 0.5-picosecond burst, 10 neutrons were... 

Several types of energy beams have been tested in research efforts to ignite inertial confined fusion reactions. Multiple laser beams, electron beams and heavy ion beams have been tested. All have shown that heating and compression is possible. Thus far, none have caused the release of more energy from the deuterium tritium pellet than was present in the original laser beams. 

Deuterium, either mixed with tritium or in the form of Li deuteride, LiD, is an essential ingredient in the fuel proposed for fusion power reactors. In the magnetically confined type of fusion power system, the working substance is a plasma mixture of fully ionized deuterium and tritium. In the laser or electron beam imploded type of system, the fuel form is a small sphere containing deuterium and tritium or LiD. Although power systems of these types have not yet been proved feasible, their successful development would create a market for deuterium and Li as great as the current market for eruiched uranium. 

The plasma must also have a high density for a sufficient time to permit the fusion reaction to occur. Laser heating of frozen deuterium-tritium pellets confined in a magnetic field is a method that has been tested. The neutrons formed react with lithium in an outer mantle, a reaction in which new tritium is formed. This reactor type is called Tokamak and is used in research projects in the USA and England. Similar reactors are used in France, Russia and Japan. 

The NOVA fusion laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratoiy in California. The laser light is fired ata 1-mm-diameter pellet containing deuterium and tritium to initiate fusion. 

National Laboratory, for thermonuclear fusion in carefully prepared DT (deuterium-tritium) pellets, were huge neodymium glass lasers using the transition from the fourth excited /-level Tj/j to the first excited /-level Since... 

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