Inertial confinement fusion ignition criteria, critical profiles, and burn wave propagation using self-similar solutions

Roy Kishony, Eli Waxman, Dov Shvarts

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

The ignition conditions, under which a thermonuclear burn wave propagates from an initial hot spot, and the characteristics of the propagating burn wave are investigated using a set of self-similar solutions. Although the self-similar solutions exist only for external density profile that decreases as ρout ∝ r-1, they are shown to provide natural ignition criteria and critical profiles for more general density profiles. The concept of working lines (WLs), attractors of trajectories in the ρR - T plane of propagating burn waves, is introduced for density profiles ρout ∝ r. The WLs are found to be close and almost parallel to the ignition line (IL). The distance of the WLs from the IL is given analytically and shown to depend on all the physical processes involved. The spatial profiles of a burn wave propagating along the WLs are shown to be closely related to the self-similar critical profiles.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1385-1396
Number of pages12
JournalPhysics of Plasmas
Volume4
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 1997
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Condensed Matter Physics

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