Semi-analytic model of plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion

TL;DR

This paper introduces a semi-analytic 1D model for plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion, analyzing plasma compression, energy losses, and fusion burn to evaluate potential gains and ignition possibilities.

Contribution

It presents a novel semi-analytic 1D modeling approach for plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion, including detailed physics such as ionization, energy losses, and magnetic effects.

Findings

Achieves 1D gains of 3-30 at convergence ratios below 15.

Demonstrates potential for ignition with additional dense fuel layers.

Explores parameter space to optimize fusion yield.

Abstract

A semi-analytic model for plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion is presented. Compressions of a magnetized plasma target by a spherically imploding plasma liner are calculated in one dimension (1D), accounting for compressible hydrodynamics and ionization of the liner material, energy losses due to conduction and radiation, fusion burn and alpha deposition, separate ion and electron temperatures in the target, magnetic pressure, and fuel burn-up. Results show 1D gains of 3-30 at spherical convergence ratio < 15 and 20-40 MJ of liner energy, for cases in which the liner thickness is 1 cm and the initial radius of a preheated magnetized target is 4 cm. Some exploration of parameter space and physics settings is presented. The yields observed suggest that there is a possibility of igniting additional dense fuel layers to reach high gain.