Abstract:
Results are presented of research in building a noncontact accelerator of cryogenic fuel targets (CFT) using HTSC MAGLEV technology proposed by the Lebedev Physical Institute (LPI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The goal of the ongoing research is the injection delivery of CFT using a levitating HTSC sabot into the target chamber for interaction with laser radiation at setups of medium and megajoule level. In the context of the future inertial confinement fusion (ICF) reactor, we need to speed the CFT up to high injection velocities (200 to 400 m/s for a target chamber radius of ∼6 m) to prevent damage to its components (particularly the cryogenic layer) by thermal emission from hot inner walls of the target chamber (Òch ∼ 1758 K). In addition, the CFT should be suspension-free for spherically-symmetric laser irradiation. It is a fundamental condition for the CFT injection delivery at the thermonuclear burn zone with the required frequency of 5 to 10 Hz and for maintaining the quality of the cryogenic fuel layer up to the CFT irradiation. We have carried out theoretical and experimental modeling of the CFT injection conditions for operating ICF facilities. The injection velocity, νinj, required to prevent thermal damage to the CFT is shown to be 3.2 to 17 m/s for the target chamber wall temperature Òch = 300 K and the chamber radius ranging from 1 to 5 m. To achieve these parameters, a levitation-based CFT accelerator is being developed by the LPI in order to avoid target heating already at the acceleration stage due to mechanical friction because the permissible temperature deviations in the CFT should not exceed 100 mK. Based on the results, the plan is to conduct the first experiments with noncontact acceleration of a HTSC sabot with CFT, its subsequent deceleration and CFT injection at the laser focus using the GARPUN laser facility operating at the LPI.
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