34. HIGH ENERGY DENSITY PHYSICS FOR INERTIAL FUSION ENERGY

Inertial fusion seeks to produce fusion reactions by creating plasmas of extremely high density and using inertia to contain momentarily the extreme pressure generated by the fusion burning plasma. In order for inertial fusion to achieve significant energy production, it will be necessary to develop attractive physics pathways for providing the necessary conditions for ignition and burn. In turn, these conditions will require states of matter with extremely high energy density (HED). For this purpose, HED states are defined as states of matter with energy densities exceeding about 10¹¹ J/m³ and temperature exceeding 1 eV. However, the physics of matter at such high energy densities is not well established – it is an emerging field that cuts across many areas of science. Therefore, the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) sponsors research in heavy ion beams to produce these HED states, along with studies of the physics of fast ignition and high-temperature dense magnetized plasmas. This topic seeks to supplement the on-going research activities as well as to develop new techniques for creating or studying HED states relevant to the pursuit of inertial fusion energy. A list of items under the heading “Goods and Services that are needed by the Fusion laboratories” can be found in the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences Website (URL: http://www.ofes.fusion.doe.gov). Grant applications are sought only in the following subtopics:

a. Beam Generation, Compression, and Focusing—In current OFES programs, ion beams are produced by induction linear accelerators with components to produce, accelerate, transport, and focus beams of required energy and intensity. Over the next few years, the research will concentrate on developing intense ion sources and on studying the physics of spatial compression, neutralized transport, and focusing of the beam. The research is led by the Virtual National Laboratory for Heavy Ion Fusion, a collaboration among Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Grant applications are sought to support the development of high current, high brightness ion sources for heavy ion induction linacs. Grant applications also are sought for research in the spatial compression and focusing of high-current, high brightness ion beams. Research of interest includes theoretical, computational, and/or experimental investigations.

b. Fast Ignition—The Fast Ignition concept employs two drivers to create inertial fusion: one for compression, and one for the ignition of a small portion of the compressed fuel. The main requirement and challenge for Fast Ignition is to deliver the ignition energy to the compressed fuel. In the most common approach, petawatt laser energy is nominally deposited in the coronal plasma surrounding the compressed fuel, resulting in a relativistic electron beam. Ignition depends on the successful propagation of that electron beam to the fuel and the effective heating of a small portion of that fuel. In this approach, the energy transport by relativistic electrons to the high-density fuel to achieve ignition is a key physics issue. An alternative approach, in which energetic proton beams are used as igniter beams, also is under consideration. These Fast Ignition concepts are being funded by the OFES at the University of Rochester, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, General Atomics, Ohio State University, University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Nevada at Reno. Grant applications are sought for computational, experimental, and component development in support of these on-going Fast Ignition research efforts at these institutions. Grant applications that address the development of petawatt lasers are outside the scope of this solicitation and will be declined.

c. Innovative Approaches for Creating and/or Studying States of High Energy Density—Grant applications are sought to develop innovative approaches for creating and/or understanding HED states. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: (1) transport of thermal energy, kinetic energy, momentum and particles in these states, especially the effects of externally applied or self-generated magnetic fields on the transport processes; (2) and theoretical, computational, and/or experimental investigations for creating and/or using dense, high Mach-number, high velocity plasma jets/beams to create HED states. However, grant applications that address the development of petawatt lasers are outside the scope of this solicitation and will be declined.

References:

1. A Review of the Inertial Fusion Energy Program: Final Report to the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, March 29, 2004. (Report No. DOE/SC-0087)(Full text available at: http://www.ofes.fusion.doe.gov/More_HTML/FESAC_Charges_Reports.html. Scroll down page to “FESAC Documents and Meeting Dates” table. In the “March 29-30, 2004” row, select “Review of the Inertial Fusion Energy Program”.)

2. Frontiers for Discovery in High Energy Density Physics, Report of the National Task Force on High Energy Density Physics for the Office of Science and Technology Policy, National Science and Technology Council Interagency Working Group on the Physics of the Universe. Washington, DC: Office of Science and Technology Policy, July 20, 2004. (Available at: http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:PXlKAecL2L8J:www.sc.doe.gov/production/henp/np/program/docs/HEDP_Report.pdf+%22Frontiers+for+Discovery+in+High+Energy+Density+Physics%22&hl=en)

3. Interim Report of the Panel on Program Priorities for the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee, July 2004. http://www.ofes.fusion.doe.gov/more_html/FESAC07-04/HEDP.pdf.

4. 15th International Symposium on Heavy Ion Inertial Fusion, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, June 7-11, 2004, Program and Abstract Book, U.S. Department of Energy, 2004. (Available at: http://nonneutral.pppl.gov/HIF04/program.php)(Proceedings to appear as a Special Issue of Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research - Section A)

5. Thio, Y. C. F., et al., “A Physics Exploratory Experiment on Plasma Liner Formation,” Journal of Fusion Energy, 20: 1-11, June 2002. (ISSN: 0164-0313)

6. Thio, Y. C. F., et al., “A Concept for Directly Coupled Pulsed Electromagnetic Acceleration of Plasmas,” 38th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit, Indianapolis, IN, July 7-10, 2002. (AIAA Paper No. 2002-3803)(To view first page and to order, see: http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=413. In “AIAA paper number” box under “Search contains” heading, enter “2002-3803”.)

7. Caporaso, G. J. “Progress in Induction LINACs,” Proceedings of the XX International Linac Conference, (Linac 2000), Monterey, CA, August 21-25, 2000, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, September 2000. (Full Linac 2000 proceedings available at: http://www.slac.stanford.edu/econf/C000821. For Caparaso paper, select “Author List” on left menu, scroll down to Caparaso, and select “WE101.”)

8. Cook, E. G. “Review of Solid State Modulators,” Proceedings of the XX International Linac Conference, (Linac 2000), Monterey, CA, August 21-25, 2000, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, September 2000. (Full Linac 2000 proceedings available at: http://www.slac.stanford.edu/econf/C000821. For Cook paper, select “Author List” on left menu, scroll down to Cook, and select “WE103.”)

9. Grote, D. P., et al., “New Methods in WARP,” Proceedings of the International Computational Accelerator Physics Conference, Monterey, CA, September 14-18, 1998, American Institute of Physics, 1998. (Full text of paper available at: http://www.slac.stanford.edu/xorg/icap98/papers/C-Tu08.pdf)

10. “Proceedings of the 12th International Symposium on Heavy Ion Inertial Fusion, Heidelberg, Germany, September 24-27, 1997,” Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 415(1, 2), 1998. (ISSN: 0168-9002)(Special Issue)(Titles and abstracts of symposium documents available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01689002)

11. “Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Heavy Ion Inertial Fusion, San Diego, CA, March 13-17, 2000,” Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research, Section A, 464(1-3), 2001. (ISSN: 0168-9002) (Titles and abstracts of symposium documents available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01689002)

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