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Direct-Drive Inertial Fusion Research at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics: A Review
This paper reviews the status of direct-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE). LLE's goal is to demonstrate direct-drive ignition on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) by 2014. Baseline "all-DT" NIF direct-drive ignition target designs have been developed that have a predicted gain of 45 (1-D) at a NIF drive energy of ~1.6 MJ. Significantly higher gains are calculated for targets that include a DT-wicked foam ablator. This paper also reviews the results of both warm fuel and initial cryogenic-fuel spherical target implosion experiments carried out on the OMEGA UV laser. The results of these experiments and design calculations increase confidence that the NIF direct-drive ICF ignition goal will be achieved
Progress in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion research at the laboratory for laser energetics
Direct-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is
expected to demonstrate high gain on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in
the next decade and is a leading candidate for inertial fusion energy
production. The demonstration of high areal densities in hydrodynamically
scaled cryogenic DT or D implosions with neutron yields that are a
significant fraction of the “clean” 1-D predictions will validate the
ignition-equivalent direct-drive target performance on the OMEGA laser at
the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE). This paper highlights some
of the recent experimental and theoretical progress toward this validation.
The NIF will initially be configured for x-ray drive and with no beams
placed at the target equator to provide a symmetric irradiation of a
direct-drive capsule. LLE is developing the “polar-direct-drive” (PDD)
approach that repoints beams toward the target equator. Initial 2-D
simulations have shown ignition. 
LLE is currently constructing the multibeam, 2.6-kJ/beam, petawatt laser
system OMEGA EP. Integrated fast-ignition experiments, combining the OMEGA
EP and OMEGA laser systems, will begin in FY08
Progress in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion
Significant progress has been made in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion research at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics since the 2009 IFSA Conference [R.L. McCrory et al., J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. 244, 012004 (2010)]. Areal densities of 300mg/cm2 have been measured in cryogenic target implosions with neutron yields 15% of 1-D predictions. A model of crossed-beam energy transfer has been developed to explain the observed scattered-light spectrum and laser–target coupling. Experiments show that its impact can be mitigated by changing the ratio of the laser beam to target diameter. Progress continues in the development of the polar-drive concept that will allow direct-drive–ignition experiments to be conducted on the National Ignition Facility using the indirect-drive-beam layout