# Progress in Inertial Confinement Fusion the Shock Ignition approach.

Batani D.

Relazione su invito
II - Fisica della materia
Aula 32B-2 - Martedì 18 h 09:00 - 13:00
Very large laser facilities are currently used to study the process of inertial confinement (ICF) fusion and the possibility of igniting thermonuclear targets. These include the NIF (National Ignition Facility) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US, and the LMJ (Laser Megajoule) at the CEA site of Le Barp near Bordeaux. Despite un-doubtful and huge progresses, the goal of achieving ignition has not been reached yet. The talk will highlight the main problems towards ignition and finally address the recent Shock Ignition approach to ICF, which relies on a sub-ns high intensity laser spike that irradiates the target at the end of the compression phase, generating a strong shock converging in the center of the compressed spherical target and providing the temperature increase needed to trigger fusion reaction. Several experiments have been and are conducted not only in the US but also in Europe to answer pending physics issues in this scheme. In particular, I will describe experimental results obtained by our group at the PALS laboratory in Prague and at the Omega laser facility in Rochester concerning the generation of very strong shocks and the impact of parametric instabilities and hot electron generation and energy deposition in a laser intensity regime of direct interest for shock ignition (up to $10^{16}$ W/cm${}^{2}$).