THERMONUCLEAR BURN PERFORMANCE OF VOLUME-IGNITED AND CENTRALLY IGNITED BARE DEUTERIUM-TRITIUM MICROSPHERES

A parametric study of the burn performance (measured by the fuel energ y gain) of compressed deuterium-tritium fuel microspheres, with parame ters of interest to inertial confinement fusion, has been performed by 1-D numerical radiation-hydrodynamics simulations. Both volume-ignite d and centrally ignited (either initially isobaric or isochoric) confi gurations are considered. An overview is given of the relevant ignitio n conditions. For the first time a scaling law is presented for the li miting gain of volume-ignited fuels. Scaling laws are also given for t he limiting gain of centrally ignited assemblies, which have the same functional dependences as predicted by previous analytical models, but different numerical coefficients. The advantage of isochoric assembli es over isobaric ones is confirmed, but found to be smaller than previ ously reported. The potentials of volume-ignited and of centrally igni ted, isobaric assemblies as functions of the energy, density and press ure are also critically compared.