Bounce-free spherical hydrodynamic implosion

TL;DR

This paper introduces a bounce-free spherical hydrodynamic implosion scheme that enhances fusion energy gain by increasing dwell time, demonstrated through self-similar solutions and applied to plasma liner driven magneto-inertial fusion.

Contribution

It constructs explicit self-similar solutions showing bounce-free implosions and demonstrates significant improvements in fusion performance.

Findings

At least fourfold increase in dwell time.

Enhanced fusion energy gain.

Validated by specific plasma fusion example.

Abstract

In a bounce-free spherical hydrodynamic implosion, the post-stagnation hot core plasma does not expand against the imploding flow. Such an implosion scheme has the advantage of improving the dwell time of the burning fuel, resulting in a higher fusion burn-up fraction. The existence of bounce-free spherical implosions is demonstrated by explicitly constructing a family of self-similar solutions to the spherically symmetric ideal hydrodynamic equations. When applied to a specific example of plasma liner driven magneto-inertial fusion, the bounce-free solution is found to produce at least a factor of four improvement in dwell time and fusion energy gain.