Studies of Quantum Degenerate Cold Plasmas at the National Ignition Facility

Abstract: 

At the National Ignition Facility, deuterium and tritium capsules are compressed to high density and temperature in an attempt to achieve fusion ignition with energy gain. The standard ignition capsule involves three distinct material layers: an outer hydrocarbon ablator layer, a thick layer of solid DT ice, and a central sphere of DT gas. The capsule is designed to compress to sufficient temperatures and densities so that a burn is initiated in the central gas region that will propagation into the surrounding dense cold DT fuel. To-date, the burn has never propagated into the cold fuel. However, we take advantage of this burn non-propagation and particularly the fact that it renders the unburned plasma surrounding the central the burning gas to be sufficiently cold and dense that it is electron degenerate. This cold dense DT region represents the only laboratory plasma system that involves nuclear reactions in a quantum degenerate system. In this talk, I present experimental measurements of the rare nuclear reactions that take place in the cold fuel and their theoretical implications.