In the fall of 2010, the Office of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Secretary for Science asked for a National Research Council (NRC) committee to investigate the prospects for generating power using inertial confinement fusion (ICF) concepts, acknowledging that a key test of viability for this concept-ignition -could be demonstrated at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the relatively near term. The committee was asked to provide an unclassified report. However, DOE indicated that to fully assess this topic, the committee's deliberations would have to be informed by the results of some classified experiments and information, particularly in the area of ICF targets and nonproliferation. Thus, the Panel on the Assessment of Inertial Confinement Fusion Targets ("the panel") was assembled, composed of experts able to access the needed information. The panel was charged with advising the Committee on the Prospects for Inertial Confinement Fusion Energy Systems on these issues, both by internal discussion and by this unclassified report. A Panel on Fusion Target Physics ("the panel") will serve as a technical resource to the Committee on Inertial Confinement Energy Systems ("the Committee") and will prepare a report that describes the R&D challenges to providing suitable targets, on the basis of parameters established and provided to the Panel by the Committee. The Panel on Fusion Target Physics will prepare a report that will assess the current performance of fusion targets associated with various ICF concepts in order to understand: 1. The spectrum output; 2. The illumination geometry; 3. The high-gain geometry; and 4. The robustness of the target design. The panel addressed the potential impacts of the use and development of current concepts for Inertial Fusion Energy on the proliferation of nuclear weapons information and technology, as appropriate. The Panel examined technology options, but does not provide recommendations specific to any currently operating or proposed ICF facility.

The potential for using fusion energy to produce commercial electric power was first explored in the 1950s. Harnessing fusion energy offers the prospect of a nearly carbon-free energy source with a virtually unlimited supply of fuel. Unlike nuclear fission plants, appropriately designed fusion power plants would not produce the large amounts of high-level nuclear waste that requires long-term disposal. Due to these prospects, many nations have initiated research and development (R&D) programs aimed at developing fusion as an energy source. Two R&D approaches are being explored: magnetic fusion energy (MFE) and inertial fusion energy (IFE). An Assessment of the Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy describes and assesses the current status of IFE research in the United States; compares the various technical approaches to IFE; and identifies the scientific and engineering challenges associated with developing inertial confinement fusion (ICF) in particular as an energy source. It also provides guidance on an R&D roadmap at the conceptual level for a national program focusing on the design and construction of an inertial fusion energy demonstration plant.

Recent scientific and technical advances have made it possible to create matter in the laboratory under conditions relevant to astrophysical systems such as supernovae and black holes. These advances will also benefit inertial confinement fusion research and the nation's nuclear weapon's program. The report describes the major research facilities on which such high energy density conditions can be achieved and lists a number of key scientific questions about high energy density physics that can be addressed by this research. Several recommendations are presented that would facilitate the development of a comprehensive strategy for realizing these research opportunities.

This book is on inertial confinement fusion, an alternative way to produce electrical power from hydrogen fuel by using powerful lasers or particle beams. It involves the compression of tiny amounts (micrograms) of fuel to thousand times solid density and pressures otherwise existing only in the centre of stars. Thanks to advances in laser technology, it is now possible to produce such extreme states of matter in the laboratory. Recent developments have boosted laser intensities again with new possibilities for laser particle accelerators, laser nuclear physics, and fast ignition of fusion targets. This is a reference book for those working on beam plasma physics, be it in the context of fundamental research or applications to fusion energy or novel ultra-bright laser sources. The book combines quite different areas of physics: beam target interaction, dense plasmas, hydrodynamic implosion and instabilities, radiative energy transfer as well as fusion reactions. Particular attention is given to simple and useful modelling, including dimensional analysis and similarity solutions. Both authors have worked in this field for more than 20 years. They want to address in particular those teaching this topic to students and all those interested in understanding the technical basis.

Written primarily for researchers and graduate students who are new in this emerging field, this book develops the necessary tools so that readers can follow the latest advances in this subject. Readers are first guided to examine the basic informations on nucleon-nucleon collisions and the use of the nucleus as an arena to study the interaction of one nucleon with another. A good survey of the relation between nucleon-nucleon and nucleus-nucleus collisions provides the proper comparison to study phenomena involving the more exotic quark-gluon plasma. Properties of the quark-gluon plasma and signatures for its detection are discussed to aid future searches and exploration for this exotic matter. Recent experimental findings are summarised.

A broad class of accelerators rests on the induction principle whereby the accelerating electrical fields are generated by time-varying magnetic fluxes. Particularly suitable for the transport of bright and high-intensity beams of electrons, protons or heavy ions in any geometry (linear or circular) the research and development of induction accelerators is a thriving subfield of accelerator physics. This text is the first comprehensive account of both the fundamentals and the state of the art about the modern conceptual design and implementation of such devices. Accordingly, the first part of the book is devoted to the essential features of and key technologies used for induction accelerators at a level suitable for postgraduate students and newcomers to the field. Subsequent chapters deal with more specialized and advanced topics.

Although particle accelerators are the book's main thrust, it offers a broad synoptic description of beams which applies to a wide range of other devices such as low-energy focusing and transport systems and high-power microwave sources. Develops material from first principles, basic equations and theorems in a systematic way. Assumptions and approximations are clearly indicated. Discusses underlying physics and validity of theoretical relationships, design formulas and scaling laws. Features a significant amount of recent work including image effects and the Boltzmann line charge density profiles in bunched beams.