Thermonuclear Fusion Controlled through Two Light Variants of Hydrogen

A recent study looks at stimulants in order to investigate the uniformity of irradiation at the ignition stage of theromonuclear fusion reaction.

The study shows that one of the ways to achieve thermonuclear fusion is through a controlled reaction between two light variants of hydrogen known as deuterium and tritium.

Lead study author Mauro Temporal from the Ecole Normale Superiuere Cachan in France and colleagues have worked to examine theoretical calculations that indicate how to best improve the ignition stage of fusion reaction.

Researchers worked to analyze the possibility of using the UK-based Orion facility's high-power laser beams in order to study uniformity. Orion has a few nanosecond-long pulse-5 kiloJoules in energy that cannot achieve ignition but can help them test ways to produce uniform irradiation due to non-uniformity that was distributed via beams.

The study authors used numerical stimulants in order to analyze the uniformity of the illumination of spherical targets via the case of circular or elliptical laser intensity profiles. Their work also acts as potentially disruptive factors that include beam-to-beam power imbalances, laser-beam pointing error and target positioning error, according to a press release. 

They demonstrate that this approach reduces considerably the non-uniformity of the capsule irradiation-by 50 percent and 35 percent, for elliptical and circular intensity profiles respectively.

More information regarding the study can be found via the European Physical Journal D.