Assembly of High-Areal-Density Deuterium-Tritium Fuel from Indirectly Driven Cryogenic Implosions

The National Ignition Facility has been used to compress deuterium-tritium to an average areal density of ~1.0±0.1 g cm^-2, which is 67% of the ignition requirement. These conditions were obtained using 192 laser beams with total energy of 1--1.6 MJ and peak power up to 420 TW to create a hohlraum drive with a shaped power profile, peaking at a soft x-ray radiation temperature of 275--300 eV. This pulse delivered a series of shocks that compressed a capsule containing cryogenic deuterium-tritium to a radius of 25--35 μm. Neutron images of the implosion were used to estimate a fuel density of 500--800 g cm^-3.