Abstract

High gain targets for IGF reactor employ a very thick layer of liquid or solid DT fuel on the inner surface of an ablator shell. The thick fuel layer is formed by saturating a low-density, low-Z plastic foam shell with liquid fuel. The foam acts as a matrix to hold a thick fuel layer just as a sponge holds water. Low-density, low-Z foams are necessary to avoid the increase of the required temperature for ignition due to the increase of radiation loss from the impurities. We have produced CH and CD foams whose mass density is 30-40 mg/cm³ and cell sizes are of the order of 10 μm. For a CD foam with a mass density of 50 mg/cm³, the ignition temperature is predicted to be only 6-7 keV.

© 1988 Optical Society of America