DIRECT-DRIVE LASER FUSION - STATUS AND PROSPECTS

Techniques have been developed to improve the uniformity of the laser focal profile, to reduce the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability, and to suppress the various laser-plasma instabilities. There are now thr ee direct-drive ignition target designs that utilize these techniques. An evaluation of these designs is still ongoing. Some of them may ach ieve the gains above 100 that are necessary for a fusion reactor. Two laser systems have been proposed that may meet all of the requirements for a fusion reactor. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.