Here we report recent progresses of laser fusion energy research in Japan, especially on the fast ignition scheme. For the fast-track to the laser fusion energy, we are investigating the fast-ignition plasma physics to realize optimal compression of a fusion fuel as well as efficient heating of the compressed fuel. In this scheme, we have demonstrated the efficient heating of high density...
In the laser-driven indirect drive scheme for inertial confinement fusion (ICF), the capsule diameter is typically limited to ~2 mm in order to attain quasi-round implosions with currently available laser energy in cylindrical hohlraums. This geometrical factor restricts the energy coupling efficiency from the hohlraum to the capsule to be ~10% [Ref.1]. We report the first series of...
A promising repeatable laser system producing multi-kilojoule of pulse energy has been basically designed for realization of the fast-ignition-based inertial fusion energy (IFE) reactor. Two cultivated core key technologies ensure high reliability of the proposed design. First, using our novel bonding technology, a cryogenic active-mirror amplifier has been developed to enable 100 Hz...
Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) schemes are designed to heat and compress DT fuel to conditions exceeding the Lawson criterion ($p \tau$) using implosion, which greatly amplifies the pressure of a driver (~100 MBar) to the conditions necessary for laboratory-scale ICF (~100s GBar). The National Ignition Facility (NIF) focuses on the laser indirect drive approach to ICF, in which laser energy...
TAE Technologies, Inc. (TAE) is a privately funded company pursuing an alternative approach to magnetically confined fusion, which relies on field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasmas composed of mostly energetic and well-confined particles by means of a state-of-the-art tunable energy neutral-beam (NB) injector system. TAE’s current experimental device, C-2W (also called “Norman”) shown in...
