INTENSE LIGHT-ION BEAMS PROVIDE A ROBUST, COMMON-DRIVER PATH TOWARD IGNITION, GAIN, AND COMMERCIAL FUSION ENERGY

Intense light-ion beams are being developed for investigations of iner tial confinement fusion (ICF). This effort has concentrated on develop ing the Particle Beam Fusion Accelerator II (PBFA II) at Sandia as a d river for ICF target experiments, on design concepts for a high-yield, high-gain Laboratory Microfusion Facility (LMF), and on a comprehensi ve system study of a light-ion beam-driven commercial fusion reactor ( LIBRA). This article reports on the status of design concepts and rese arch in these areas.