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Lasers for inertial confinement fusion driven by high explosives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2008

F. Winterberg
F. Winterberg*
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: F. Winterberg, University of Nevada, MS 220, Reno, Nevada 89557. E-mail: winterbe@physics.unr.edu
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Extract

Proposed laser fusion power plant concepts suffer from the huge size and expense of the lasers needed for compression and ignition. In a 1969 study (classified in 1970 and declassified in 2007), the idea to use chemical high explosives for the pumping of megajoule lasers was explored. Apart from being less expensive by orders of magnitude, such lasers are expected to be much more compact, and with their large energy, output could simultaneously drive several thermonuclear micro-explosion chambers. Because of its topical importance, I accepted the journal's invitation to publish a previously classified work, but with new unpublished ideas, with the previously classified paper put into the appendix.

Type
Invited Review Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 127 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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