ABSTRACT
The idea of using microballoon explosions to produce fusion energy relies on the principle of using the inertia of imploding targets to provide confinement. The targets are usually small spherical microballoons filled with deuterium-tritium (D-T) gas (1 mg cm-3). The inner part of the small pellet contains the main fuel D-T region surrounded by an ablator. When energy is supplied from a driving laser the ablator heats up and expands, forcing the rest of the shell to contract inward to conserve momentum. Inertial confinement fusion uses pulsed high power lasers or ion beams as drivers. The pulses have to be so strong and short that the target does not have time to expand during the period of fusion production. The confinement time is so short, less than IO-10 s, that light does not propagate more than 1 cm over the course of the explosion. The particle density in the central region, where the fusion reactions occur (radius less than a tenth of a millimetre) is extremely high at 1025 cm-3 [8.1].
