Spin Transport Hydrodynamics of Polarized Deuterium-Tritium Fusion Plasma

TL;DR

This paper develops spin transport hydrodynamics equations for polarized deuterium-tritium plasma and demonstrates how optimized spin alignment can reduce depolarization and improve neutron beam polarization in inertial confinement fusion.

Contribution

It introduces a novel spin transport model for polarized DT plasma and applies it to simulate and optimize neutron polarization in fusion implosions.

Findings

Optimized spin alignment reduces ion depolarization.

Simulations show improved neutron beam polarization.

Depolarization is influenced by magnetic field effects.

Abstract

The spin transport equations for polarized deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion plasma are derived with the density matrix formulation, which are used to investigate the hydrodynamics of polarized DT-gas-filled targets during indirectly driven inertial confinement fusion implosions. The depolarization of DT ions by strong self-generated magnetic fields can be captured by the spin transport equation. The neutron yield, angular distribution and neutron beam polarization are obtained from three-dimensional spin transport hydrodynamics simulations of the target implosions. The simulation results indicate that an optimized spin alignment of the polarized target can reduce the depolarization of DT ions and the neutron beams induced by polar mode asymmetries in indirectly driven implosions.