Ten hertz bead pellet injection and laser engagement

Abstract A laser inertial fusion energy (IFE) reactor requires repetitive injection of fuel pellets and laser engagement to fuse fusion fuel beyond a few Hz. We demonstrate 10 Hz free-fall bead pellet injection and laser engagement with γ-ray generation. Deuterated polystyrene beads with a diameter of 1 mm were engaged by counter illuminating ultra-intense laser pulses with an intensity of 5 × 10 17 W cm −2 at 10 Hz. The spatial distribution of free-fall beads was 0.86 mm in the horizontal direction and 0.18 mm in the vertical direction. The system operated for more than 5 min and 3500 beads were supplied with achieved frequencies of 2.1 Hz for illumination on the beads and 0.7 Hz for γ-ray generation; these frequencies were three times greater than with the previous 1 Hz injection system. The duration of operation was limited by the pellet supply. This injection and engagement system could be used for laser IFE research platforms.