REDUCED SCALE NATIONAL-IGNITION-FACILITY CAPSULE DESIGN

In this article we describe the design and simulated performance chara cteristics of an indirectly-driven inertial confinement fusion capsule which utilizes only 900 kJ of laser energy and 250 TW of laser power from the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [Paisner et al., Laser Focus World 30, 75 (1994)]. This intentional reduction in laser performance from the nominal NIF specifications of 1.8 MJ and 500 TW results in l owering the hohlraum x-ray drive temperature from 300 eV to 250 eV. Th ese energy and radiation temperature reductions are believed to define a ''lower bound'' on the successful implosion of an ignition capsule. This reduced scale capsule has a beryllium ablator containing a radia lly varying copper dopant, and a cryogenic solid deuterium-tritium fue l layer surrounding a cavity filled with equilibrium vapor pressure ga seous deuterium and tritium. Two-dimensional simulations predict ignit ion and propagated burn from this capsule when either Rayleigh-Taylor instability or time-dependent drive asymmetry effects are included. (C ) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-664X(98)00910-0].