[en] Results of studies on fast ignition of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets are reviewed. The aspects of the fast ignition concept, which consists in the separation of the processes of target ignition and compression due to the synchronized action of different energy drivers, are considered. Criteria for the compression ratio and heating rate of a fast ignition target, the energy balance, and the thermonuclear gain are discussed. The results of experimental and theoretical studies of the heating of a compressed target by various types of igniting drivers, namely, beams of fast electrons and light ions produced under the action of a petawatt laser pulse on the target, a heavy-ion beam generated in the accelerator, an X-ray pulse, and a hydrodynamic flow of laser-accelerated matter, are analyzed. Requirements to the igniting-driver parameters that depend on the fast ignition criteria under the conditions of specific target heating mechanisms, as well as possibilities of practical implementation of these requirements, are discussed. The experimental programs of various laboratories and the prospects of practical implementation of fast ignition of ICF targets are reviewed. To date, fast ignition is the most promising method for decreasing the ignition energy and increasing the thermonuclear gain of an ICF plasma. A large number of publications have been devoted to investigations of this method and adjacent problems of the physics of igniting drivers and their interaction with plasma. This review presents results of only some of these studies that, in the author’s opinion, allow one to discuss in detail the main physical aspects of the fast ignition concept and understand the current state and prospects of studies in this direction.

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[en] An analytical model for heating matter in the semi-infinite space by a high-energy ion flow is presented. The obtained solution obtained describes the temporal evolution of the thermodynamics and hydrodynamics of plasma in the heated region. It counts for the general stopping power dependence on plasma temperature. While the matter is heated, the mean free path of heating ions changes functionally with temperature. Namely, it does not depend on the plasma temperature at the beginning and increases with the temperature after it passes a thermal threshold. At this threshold, the thermal velocity of plasma electrons is equal to the velocity of the ions in the heating beam. The solution shows that the most advantageous regime for the initialization of the quasi-stationary shock wave realizes when the ion energy is equal to the thermal threshold. This regime corresponds to the maximum shock pressure and the slowest subsequent pressure decay with time. Special attention is devoted to the powerful shock wave driven by the laser-accelerated fast ion beam. For example, a Gbar shock pressure may be achieved by heating an aluminum target by a proton beam with intensity of about $5\times <!--\; ??\; -->{10}^{15}\mathrm{W}{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}^{-<!--\; ???\; -->2}$ and particle energy of about 4 MeV. (paper)

[en] The efficiency of thermonuclear burning of the spherical deuterium-tritium (DT) plasma of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets in the presence of low-Z impurities (such as lithium, carbon, or beryllium) with arbitrary concentrations is investigated. The effect of impurities produced due to the mixing of the thermonuclear fuel with the material of the structural elements of the target during its compression on the process of target burning is studied, and the possibility of using solid noncryogenic thermonuclear fuels in ICF targets is analyzed. Analytical dependences of the ignition energy and target thermonuclear gain on the impurity concentration are obtained. The models are constructed for homogeneous and inhomogeneous plasmas for the case in which the burning is initiated in the central heated region of the target and then propagates into the surrounding relatively cold fuel. Two possible configurations of an inhomogeneous plasma, namely, an isobaric configuration formed in the case of spark ignition of the target and an isochoric configuration formed in the case of fast ignition, are considered. The results of numerical simulations of the burning of the DT plasma of ICF targets in a wide range of impurity concentrations are presented. The simulations were performed using the TEPA one-dimensional code, in which the thermonuclear burning kinetics is calculated by the Monte Carlo method. It is shown that the strongest negative effect related to the presence of impurities is an increase in the energy of target ignition. It is substantiated that the most promising solid noncryogenic fuel is DT hydride of beryllium (BeDT). The requirements to the plasma parameters at which BeDT can be used as a fuel in noncryogenic ICF targets are determined. Variants of using noncryogenic targets with a solid thermonuclear fuel are proposed.

[en] The degree of influence of radiative processes on the ignition of deuterium–tritium (DT) plasma has been theoretically studied as dependent on the content of inactive impurities in plasma. The analytic criterion of plasma ignition in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets is modified taking into account the absorption of intrinsic radiation from plasma in the ignition region. The influence of radiative processes on the DT plasma ignition has been analytically and numerically studied for plasma that contains a significant fraction of inactive impurities either as a result of DT fuel mixing with ICF target ablator material or as a result of using light metal DT-hydrides as solid noncryogenic fuel. It has been shown that the effect of the absorption of intrinsic radiation leads to lower impurity-induced increase in the ignition energy as compared to that calculated in the approximation of optically transparent ignition region.

[en] An exact analytic solution is found for the steady-state distribution function of fast electrons with an arbitrary initial spectrum irradiating a planar low-Z plasma with an arbitrary density distribution. The solution is applied to study the heating of a material by fast electrons of different spectra such as a monoenergetic spectrum, a step-like distribution in a given energy range, and a Maxwellian spectrum, which is inherent in laser-produced fast electrons. The heating of shock- and fast-ignited precompressed inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets as well as the heating of a target designed to generate a Gbar shock wave for equation of state (EOS) experiments by laser-produced fast electrons with a Maxwellian spectrum is investigated. A relation is established between the energies of two groups of Maxwellian fast electrons, which are responsible for generation of a shock wave and heating the upstream material (preheating). The minimum energy of the fast and shock igniting beams as well as of the beam for a Gbar shock wave generation increases with the spectral width of the electron distribution

[en] This review is presented on modern research to achieve in a laboratory experiment the new level of shock-wave pressure of a few hundred or even thousands of Mbar when a substance is exposed to a stream of laser-accelerated fast electrons. The applications associated with the use of ultra-power shock waves as the ignition driver of inertial fusion targets as well as the tool in studying the equation of a state of a matter are discussed. (paper)

[en] The analytical solution is found for thermodynamic state of plasma created when the half-space is heating by high-energy ion flow. The dependence of free path length of heating ions on plasma temperature is taken into account. Besides, an analysis of characteristic parameters of shock wave and efficiency of energy transfer to shock wave from heating ion flow is given. (paper)

[en] We continue to analyze the effects of deuteron oscillations in potential well of a virtual cathode under inertial electrostatic confinement based on nanosecond vacuum discharge. The goal of this paper is to present and discuss in detail available experimental results on pulsating DD neutron yield at this scheme. Also, the results of simulations for virtual cathodes and potential wells for particular experimental regimes of neutron yields are shown and discussed, as well as comparison with available similar scheme of periodical oscillating plasmas spheres for fusion. (paper)

[en] Earlier, there was demonstrated generation of DD neutrons in an interelectrode medium of a low-energy (∼ 1 J) nanosecond vacuum discharge with a hollow cathode and a deuterium-loaded Pd anode. There was revealed essential role of formation of a virtual cathode and a potential well corresponding thereto in the processes of collisional DD synthesis in the interelectrode space. In this work, we have obtained as a result of an experiment and discussed the neutron yield at the very initial stage of the discharge, when the beam of auto-electrons just starts to irradiate the non-ideal surface of the deuterium-loaded Pd anode. (paper)