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One of the fields of thermonuclear research is gas-dynamic thermonuclear fusion based on spherical cumulative compression of deuterium–tritium (DT) gas using an explosive charge. Unfortunately, due to high compression asymmetry, it was not possible to achieve the ignition threshold, despite more than half a century of the development. The work considers an alternative path based on cylindrical cumulative compression of DT gas by a magnetic field. This method may be free from the drawback associated with compression symmetry. The possibility of achieving the ignition threshold in this way is shown by calculations. At the same time, modern technologies based on explosive magnetic generators make it possible to implement the conditions required for this. However, the analysis shows that the efficiency of converting magnetic field energy into thermonuclear neutron energy, DT plasma burnup, and neutron radiation yield are significantly inferior to the developed approach associated with the compression of preheated magnetized DT plasma (previously MAGO/MTF, now MagLIF).

The experimental investigation of matter under extreme densities and temperatures, as in astrophysical objects and nuclear fusion applications, constitutes one of the most active frontiers at the interface of material science, plasma physics, and engineering. The central obstacle is given by the rigorous interpretation of the experimental results, as even the diagnosis of basic parameters like the temperature T is rendered difficult at these extreme conditions. Here, we present a simple, approximation-free method to extract the temperature of arbitrarily complex materials in thermal equilibrium from X-ray Thomson scattering experiments, without the need for any simulations or an explicit deconvolution. Our paradigm can be readily implemented at modern facilities and corresponding experiments will have a profound impact on our understanding of warm dense matter and beyond, and open up a variety of appealing possibilities in the context of thermonuclear fusion, laboratory astrophysics, and related disciplines. Existing methods for temperature estimation of warm dense matter rely on model calculations. Here the authors report a method to extract the temperature of complex materials that is previously only inferred by using model calculations.

Focussing laser light onto the surface of a small target filled with deuterium and tritium implodes it and leads to the creation of a hot and dense plasma, in which thermonuclear fusion reactions occur. In order for the plasma to become self-sustaining, the heating of the plasma must be dominated by the energy provided by the fusion reactions—a condition known as a burning plasma. A metric for this is the generalized Lawson parameter, where values above around 0.8 imply a burning plasma. Here, we report on hydro-equivalent scaling of experimental results on the OMEGA laser system and show that these have achieved core conditions that reach a burning plasma when the central part of the plasma, the hotspot, is scaled in size by at least a factor of 3.9 ± 0.10, which would require a driver laser energy of at least 1.7 ± 0.13 MJ. In addition, we hydro-equivalently scale the results to the 2.15 MJ of laser energy available at the National Ignition Facility and find that these implosions reach 86% of the Lawson parameter required for ignition. Our results support direct-drive inertial confinement fusion as a credible approach for achieving thermonuclear ignition and net energy in laser fusion. Hydro-equivalent scaling of recent direct-drive inertial confinement fusion implosions shows that a burning plasma can be achieved with a higher laser energy.

The fusion of deuterium (D) with tritium (T) is the most promising of the reactions that could power thermonuclear reactors of the future. It may lead to even more efficient energy generation if obtained in a polarized state, that is with the spin of the reactants aligned. Here, we report first-principles predictions of the polarized DT fusion using nuclear forces from effective field theory. By employing the ab initio no-core shell model with continuum reaction method to solve the quantum mechanical five-nucleon problem, we accurately determine the enhanced fusion rate and angular distribution of the emitted neutron and 4 He. Our calculations demonstrate in detail the small contribution of anisotropies, placing on a firmer footing the understanding of the rate of DT fusion in a polarized plasma. In the future, analogous calculations could be used to obtain accurate values for other, more uncertain thermonuclear reaction data critical to nuclear science applications. Thermonuclear fusion of nuclei of deuterium and tritium may provide the energy for the future and spin polarization is a potential mechanism for enhancing the nuclear reaction. Here the authors predict the enhanced DT fusion rate using chiral effective field theory and ab initio calculations.

In magnetic confinement thermonuclear fusion the exhaust of heat and particles from the core remains a major challenge. Heat and particles leaving the core are transported via open magnetic field lines to a region of the reactor wall, called the divertor. Unabated, the heat and particle fluxes may become intolerable and damage the divertor. Controlled ‘plasma detachment’, a regime characterized by both a large reduction in plasma pressure and temperature at the divertor target, is required to reduce fluxes onto the divertor. Here we report a systematic approach towards achieving this critical need through feedback control of impurity emission front locations and its experimental demonstration. Our approach comprises a combination of real-time plasma diagnostic utilization, dynamic characterization of the plasma in proximity to the divertor, and efficient, reliable offline feedback controller design. The exhaust of heat and particles is an important challenge in future nuclear fusion devices. Here the authors report the use of carbon emission as indicator for plasma detachment in a tokamak and its real-time feedback control.

The objective of thermonuclear fusion consists of producing electricity from the coalescence of light nuclei in high temperature plasmas. The most promising route to fusion envisages the confinement of such plasmas with magnetic fields, whose most studied configuration is the tokamak. Disruptions are catastrophic collapses affecting all tokamak devices and one of the main potential showstoppers on the route to a commercial reactor. In this work we report how, deploying innovative analysis methods on thousands of JET experiments covering the isotopic compositions from hydrogen to full tritium and including the major D-T campaign, the nature of the various forms of collapse is investigated in all phases of the discharges. An original approach to proximity detection has been developed, which allows determining both the probability of and the time interval remaining before an incoming disruption, with adaptive, from scratch, real time compatible techniques. The results indicate that physics based prediction and control tools can be developed, to deploy realistic strategies of disruption avoidance and prevention, meeting the requirements of the next generation of devices. Confining plasma and managing disruptions in tokamak devices is a challenge. Here the authors demonstrate a method predicting and possibly preventing disruptions and macroscopic instabilities in tokamak plasma using data from JET.

This paper presents a review of the experimental achievements related to the development of high-power gyrotron oscillators for long-pulse or CW operation and pulsed gyrotrons for many applications. In addition, this work gives a short overview on the present development status of frequency step-tunable and multi-frequency gyrotrons, coaxial-cavity multi-megawatt gyrotrons, gyrotrons for technological and spectroscopy applications, relativistic gyrotrons, large orbit gyrotrons (LOGs), quasi-optical gyrotrons, fast- and slow-wave cyclotron autoresonance masers (CARMs), gyroklystrons, gyro-TWT amplifiers, gyrotwystron amplifiers, gyro-BWOs, gyro-harmonic converters, gyro-peniotrons, magnicons, free electron masers (FEMs), and dielectric vacuum windows for such high-power mm-wave sources. Gyrotron oscillators (gyromonotrons) are mainly used as high-power millimeter wave sources for electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD), stability control, and diagnostics of magnetically confined plasmas for clean generation of energy by controlled thermonuclear fusion. The maximum pulse length of commercially available 140 GHz, megawatt-class gyrotrons employing synthetic diamond output windows is 30 min (CPI and European KIT-SPC-THALES collaboration). The world record parameters of the European tube are as follows: 0.92 MW output power at 30-min pulse duration, 97.5% Gaussian mode purity, and 44% efficiency, employing a single-stage depressed collector (SDC) for energy recovery. A maximum output power of 1.5 MW in 4.0-s pulses at 45% efficiency was generated with the QST-TOSHIBA (now CANON) 110-GHz gyrotron. The Japan 170-GHz ITER gyrotron achieved 1 MW, 800 s at 55% efficiency and holds the energy world record of 2.88 GJ (0.8 MW, 60 min) and the efficiency record of 57% for tubes with an output power of more than 0.5 MW. The Russian 170-GHz ITER gyrotron obtained 0.99 (1.2) MW with a pulse duration of 1000 (100) s and 53% efficiency. The prototype tube of the European 2-MW, 170-GHz coaxial-cavity gyrotron achieved in short pulses the record power of 2.2 MW at 48% efficiency and 96% Gaussian mode purity. Gyrotrons with pulsed magnet for various short-pulse applications deliver P out  = 210 kW with τ  = 20 μs at frequencies up to 670 GHz ( η  ≅ 20%), P out  = 5.3 kW at 1 THz ( η  = 6.1%), and P out  = 0.5 kW at 1.3 THz ( η  = 0.6%). Gyrotron oscillators have also been successfully used in materials processing. Such technological applications require tubes with the following parameters: f   >  24 GHz, P out  = 4–50 kW, CW, η   >  30%. The CW powers produced by gyroklystrons and FEMs are 10 kW (94 GHz) and 36 W (15 GHz), respectively. The IR FEL at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in the USA obtained a record average power of 14.2 kW at a wavelength of 1.6 μm. The THz FEL (NOVEL) at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in Russia achieved a maximum average power of 0.5 kW at wavelengths 50–240 μm (6.00–1.25 THz).

Intense lasers interacting with dense targets accelerate relativistic electron beams, which transport part of the laser energy into the target depth. However, the overall laser-to-target energy coupling efficiency is impaired by the large divergence of the electron beam, intrinsic to the laser–plasma interaction. Here we demonstrate that an efficient guiding of MeV electrons with about 30 MA current in solid matter is obtained by imposing a laser-driven longitudinal magnetostatic field of 600 T. In the magnetized conditions the transported energy density and the peak background electron temperature at the 60-μm-thick target's rear surface rise by about a factor of five, as unfolded from benchmarked simulations. Such an improvement of energy-density flux through dense matter paves the ground for advances in laser-driven intense sources of energetic particles and radiation, driving matter to extreme temperatures, reaching states relevant for planetary or stellar science as yet inaccessible at the laboratory scale and achieving high-gain laser-driven thermonuclear fusion. Efficient energy transport by laser-driven relativistic electron beams is crucial in many applications including inertial confinement fusion, and particle acceleration. Here the authors demonstrate relativistic electron beam guiding in dense plasma with an externally imposed high magnetic field.

The physical design of the fusion target is an important part of controlled thermonuclear fusion, and the geometric model and material selection of the target is also critical to achieving fusion ignition. We have modularised the target and introduced digital modeling, edge computing, and deep learning technologies to build a data-driven hybrid computing framework. We construct physical models and integrate them into a unified digital model of a multi-domain system; simulate and iteratively modify the physical model, and use edge computing technologies for information modeling. Edge computing is well applied to the calculation of each module of the target. Each module is both correlated and independent, and the values of the fusion ignition temperature and density achieved in the target are obtained, and the neutron products in the ignition and main fuel regions are 10 16 - 10 17 and 10 19 respectively. This will be an important reference value for the design of actual fusion targets.

A bstract Part of the energy created in deuterium-tritium fusion reactors is carried away from plasma by a high-intensity neutron flux, which is then absorbed by the reactor’s inner walls. The neutron flux can be used to sustain the reaction by the following mechanism: the walls are coated with lithium-rich breeding blankets , in which a fraction of neutrons interacts with lithium, creating tritium, which can be, in turn, used a fuel for the main reaction. The interactions of neutrons with the materials within the breeding blanket can also result in the production of dark sector particles, feebly interacting light scalars or pseudoscalars, via nuclear transitions. We estimate the potential size of such dark sector flux outside the reactor and consider possible detection methods at current and future thermonuclear fusion reactors. In our analysis, we take into account all other current bounds, recasting also the SNO axion bound for a CP even scalar. We find that year-long searches at current and future reactors can set leading constraints on dark scalar- and dark pseudoscalar-nucleon couplings.