Driving high-gain shock-ignited inertial confinement fusion targets by green laser light

Standard direct-drive inertial confinement fusion requires UV light irradiation in order to achieve ignition at total laser energy of the order of 1 MJ. The shock-ignition approach opens up the possibility of igniting fusion targets using green light by reducing the implosion velocity and laser-driven ablation pressure. An analytical model is derived, allowing to rescale UV-driven targets to green light. Gain in the range 100-200 is obtained for total laser energy in the range 1.5-3 MJ. With respect to the original UV design, the rescaled targets are less sensitive to irradiation asymmetries and hydrodynamic instabilities, while operating in the same laser-plasma interaction regime. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4754307]