Experimental studies of the advanced fast ignitor scheme

Guided compression offers an attractive route to explore some of the physic s issues of hot electron heating and transport in the fast ignition route t o inertial confinement fusion, whilst avoiding the difficulties associated with establishing the stability of the channel formation pulse. X-ray image s are presented that show that the guided foil remains hydrodynamically sta ble during the acceleration phase, which is confirmed by two-dimensional si mulations. An integrated conical compression/fast electron heating experime nt is presented that confirms that this approach deserves detailed study. ( C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S1070-664X(00)02809-3].