Inertial fusion energy target output and chamber response: Calculations and experiments

The emission of photons and energetic ions by the burn and subsequent explosion of inertial fusion energy (IFE) targets poses a threat to the survival of the target chambers in future IFE power plants. Immediately after the deposition of target output, the chamber can experience sufficient heating to cause vaporization, melting, and shock loading on chamber walls. Until high-yield targets can be ignited in laboratory experiments, predictions of the nature of the target output and the response of the target chamber must be made with radiation-hydrodynamics computer codes that need to be validated with relevant smaller scale experiments. Physical models of equation of state, opacity, and radiation transport are in special need of validation. Issues of target output and chamber response requiring experiments and computer modeling are discussed and initial results from experiments are presented. Calculations of x ray and debris output from direct-drive IFE targets are shown and sensitivity of the output spectra and chamber response to details of the physics models are discussed. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.