The role of nuclear reactions and α -particle transport in the dynamics of inertial confinement fusion capsules

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the study of the deceleration phase of inertial confinement capsules. The purpose is to obtain a zero-dimensional model that has the form of a closed system of ordinary differential equations for the main hydrodynamic quantities. The model takes into account the energy released by nuclear reactions, a nonlocal model for the α -particle energy deposition process, and radiation loss by electron bremsstrahlung. The asymptotic analysis is performed in the case of a strong temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity. We finally study the beginning of the expansion phase after stagnation to derive an ignition criterion. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.