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Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
George A. Kyrala, Matthew M. Balkey, Cris W. Barnes, Steven H. Batha, Cindy R. Christensen, James A. Cobble, James Fincke, Paul Keiter, Nicholas Lanier, Dennis Paisley, Michael Sorem, Damian Swift, Jonathan Workman
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 2 | March 2004 | Pages 286-295
Technical Paper | Target Fabrication | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A463
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Targets are used for a variety of purposes, but ultimately we use them to validate codes that help us predict and understand new phenomena or effects. The sophistication and complexity of High Energy Density Physics (HEDP) and Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) targets has increased in to match the advances made in modeling complex phenomena. The targets have changed from simple hohlraums, spherical geometries, and planar foils, to 3-dimensional geometries that require precision in construction, alignment, and metrology. Furthermore, material properties, such as surface morphologies and volume texture, have significant impact on the behavior of the targets and must be measured and controlled. In the following we will discuss how experimental physicists view targets and the influence that target construction has on interpreting the experimental results. We review a representative sampling of targets fabricated at the Los Alamos National Laboratory that are used in different experiments in support of ICF and HEDP.