Energy deposition of heavy-ion beams in neutronless fusion reaction
- PDF / 923,789 Bytes
- 7 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 74 Downloads / 200 Views
© Indian Academy of Sciences
Energy deposition of heavy-ion beams in neutronless fusion reaction R SOTODEHEIAN and M MAHDAVI∗ Physics Department, University of Mazandaran, P.O. Box 47415-416, Babolsar, Iran ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] MS received 11 November 2019; revised 17 June 2020; accepted 29 July 2020 Abstract. Recent advances in laser-plasma accelerators have made possible the production of high-power beams with very low divergence. In this paper, the carbon heavy-ion beam was used to provide optimal conditions for the ignition of P–11 B clean fuel pellets using the Deira-4 simulation code. The calculations showed that generating maximum ion heating of about 140 keV requires a laser with an intensity of 1021 W/cm2 and a radiation time of 20 ps, which provide medium heating conditions for ignition. Keywords. Heavy-ion beam; laser-plasma accelerator; Deira-4 simulation code; stopping power. PACS Nos 52.25.Fi; 52.25.Dg
1. Introduction Compared to other methods for generating energy, the nuclear fusion method has been more widely considered because fuel sources are easily available, there is no radiation emission, no contamination of the environment, and energy can be mass produced. Fast ignition-inertial confinement fusion (FI-ICF) method is an example for fusion methods [1]. The fast ignition method was initially discussed in the 1960s, by Harrison [2] and Maisonnier [3]. Its main idea was presented by Tabak et al in 1994. To achieve a higher gain using this method, the compression and ignition phases must be separated from each other. First, the fuel capsule was pre-compressed by a long-pulse (ns) (laser beams, Xrays) as the driver, and then the compressed fuel was burnt by a secondary pulse whose intensity is greater than that of the initial pulse (an appropriate trigger for fast ignition). An intense short-pulse (ps) ultra-intense (about ∼ 1020 W cm−2 ) particle beam of fast electrons, protons, or other ions could be used as the ignitor. Based on the initial idea of fast ignition, high-intensity lasers were used to increase the dense fuel temperature [4]. Recently, ion beam has been proposed as a more suitable option for hot spot ignition. Hence, we do not need the laser to interact with fuel plasma anymore. The ion beam is used because short-range electrons can be produced, energy leakage is less and divergence of the ion beam in the fuel is less [5]. Besides, a new scientific 0123456789().: V,-vol
opportunity has recently been provided for using the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) by replacing petawatt lasers with the proton beam. Essentially, the idea is to use a laser with an intensity of 1020 W/cm2 to radiate onto a foil outside the fuel capsule, create an electron population and finally produce high-energy ions [6]. The production of energetic ions of order MeV has been observed in various experiments using radiated lasers with high intensities on different fuel targets such as solid foil [7–11]. Roth et al [12] have shown that the production of a proton beam with ene
Data Loading...
