29 / 2025-02-27 10:35:32

Combined Polarized and Magnetized Inertial Confinement Fusion: Benefits to Ignition and High Gain

Polarized inertial confinement fusion,Magnetized inertial confinement fusion,Ignition condition,Energy gain

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) has successfully achieved the milestone of fusion ignition. The subsequent objective is to attain a higher energy gain. Polarized ICF and magnetized ICF have been proposed individually to reduce the ignition condition and increase the energy gain. When the deuterium-tritium (DT) fuels are polarized, the fusion cross-section can be increased by 50%. However, the polarized DT fuels can be depolarized by the self-generated magnetic fields during the implosions [1,2]. In this study, we use the spin transport hydrodynamics simulation code SPINSIM to investigate the ignition conditions and energy gains of polarized and magnetized ICF targets. With external magnetic fields aligned parallel to the spins of DT fuels, the depolarization due to the self-generated magnetic fields can be reduced. The external magnetic fields can also contribute to reducing the electron heat conduction loss and increasing the alpha particle self-heating in the hot spot. So when the DT fuels are simultaneously polarized and magnetized, the ignition condition and energy gain are expected to be lower/higher than in the unpolarized and unmagnetized case and the individually polarized or magnetized cases.