Rotating motion of a propagating LIB is analyzed in order to suppress the mixed mode of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, the tearing instability and the sausage instability by the action of a self-induced magnetic field in the axial direction. The beams are assumed to be charge-neutralized but not current-neutralized. The steady-state solutions of a propagating LIB with rotation are first obtained numerically. Through the dispersion relation with respect to the ikonal type of perturbations, which are added to the steady-state solutions, the growth rates of instabilities appearing in an LIB are obtained. It is concluded that if the mean rotating velocity of an LIB is comparable to the propagation velocity, in other words, if the induced magnetic field intensity in the axial direction is comparable to the magnetic field intensity in the azimuthal direction, the instability disappears in the propagating ion beam.

The shock pressures generated in the interaction of lasers and light ion beams with thin foils are calculated using a two-dimensional, axisymmetric hydrodynamic code. For lasers, finite spot sizes produce a significant decrease in the pressure generated, compared to previous 1-D estimates. The effect is closely related to the coupling of the critical density with the ablation surface and is less important at shorter wavelengths, the appropriate parameter being Iλ2. For 0·5 TW red light and a 100 μm radius spot pressures are limited to 30 Mb. Perturbations across the beam profile are discussed and it is demonstrated that beam uniformity of 30% (25% for green light) is required to achieve velocity modulation of less than 2%, such as would be necessary for an equation of state measurement.

For the larger targets used with light ion beams, two-dimensional effects prove to be less of a problem, and for high-Z materials the initial 1-D estimates of peak pressure are adequate. In order to obtain the shock planarity requisite for equation of state measurements in a high-Z target an intensity uniformity of ±15% would be required. However, use of a composite target enables this to be relaxed to ±25% whilst obtaining slightly higher pressures.

Heavy ion beam driven implosion of multilayered, single-shell targets for inertial confinement fusion are investigated by ID-simulation. Features characteristic of heavy ion energy deposition are studied. The ion beam energy and the tamper/absorber configuration which give optimum hydrodynamic efficiency and fuel ignition are found for a reactor-size target. A comparison of different pulse shapes with and without prepulse is presented. Implosion by a single-box pulse is found to give superior hydrodynamic efficiency and spherical stability. In addition to these specific results, general features of ion driven implosions are discussed and a brief description of the target code MINIHY is given.

The present paper presents experimental results of the transverse and longitudinal phase volume for the expanding multicharged ions in laser produced plasma, created by focusing a CO2-laser (beam) onto a Pb207 target. The total number of Pb207 ions (with Z = 1 or 2 and Z = 6), the ion current duration and amplitude at a distance of 1 m from the laser target within 10−2 steradians are determined. The measured experimental parameters of the laser heavy ion source are compared with the driver requirement for the heavy ion inertial fusion (HIIF) programme.

The phenomena observed in the experiment confirm the results of numerical calculations using a two temperature hydrodynamic programme.

A self-consistent model for the beamline of a light ion beam fusion reactor is presented. Code calculations for the region from the end of the Magnetically Insulated Vacuum Transmission Line (MITL) entering the ion diode to the energy output from fusion reactions in the pellet fuel are described. The design utilises state-of-the-art pulsed power and a concept for repetitive operation of a pinch reflex diode. Deuterium beams are launched at 6·3 MV and are transmitted through preionized channels. Overall energy transfer efficiency from electrical source to pellet is 20%. The principal developments required are beam brightness, which scales from present day experiments, and repetitive diodes.

One of the main problems in IC fusion is the efficient transfer of energy from a low energy-density source to the fusion target. Some general concepts of optimum energystaging are described. The applicability of these concepts is illustrated by a few examples. Particular emphasis is put on the use of several liners in series, which permits both the amplification of the liner-velocity and a spatially symmetric collapse.

Experimental results on the compression of shell targets with aspect ratio A = 150–250 in the “Delfin-1” installation are reported. The absorbed laser energy was 0·3 to 0·5 kJ. The maximum compression was 3·5 × 103, the velocity of target compression at the final stage was 2·6 × 107 cm/s, neutron yield was 106 to 107 D-D neutrons per laser shot. The appearence of plasma corona filamentation correlated with compression stability distruction.

In a recent study R. G. Evans developed an analytic model for ICF targets heated by heavy ion beams in order to show the differences to laser beam heating. However, these differences are really not very pronounced. In fact, Evans' model should be directly applicable to describe exploding pusher foil targets. In addition, Evans' scaling law for the ablation pressure PA with target density ρ0 and particle beam intensity Ib,

is identical to the scaling found for laser targets with tamped flow (Ahlborn, 1981).