High-gain direct-drive target design for laser fusion

A new laser fusion target concept is presented with a predicted energy gain of 127 using a 1.3 MJ KrF laser. This energy gain is sufficiently high for an economically attractive fusion reactor. X rays from high- and low-Z mat erials are used in combination with a low-opacity ablator to spatially tune the isentrope, thereby providing both high fuel compression and a reductio n of the ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-664X(00)04505-5].