Circular HTSC-MAGLEV system for noncontact acceleration and injection of cryogenic fuel targets at the laser focus of ICF facility

Abstract: One of the key directions in the field of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is associated with the design of an efficient repeatable system for delivering cryogenic fuel targets (CFTs) to the focus of a high-power laser facility. The prospects for the development of a ring magnetic system based on the noncontact acceleration of a levitating CFT carrier made of high-temperature type-II superconductors (HTSCs), up to specified injection velocities of 200–400 m·s^–1, are discussed. With this purpose, we study the temperature dependence of the magnetic moment of HTSC tapes in the range T = 10 – 92 K, perform prototype experiments on the acceleration of HTSC sabots at T ∼ 80 K due to an external action with a frequency of ∼1 Hz, and also calculate the HTSC sabot velocities at which the sabots leave a circular trajectory. The calculation results are in good agreement with the experiment, which makes it possible to estimate the parameters of a ring magnetic accelerator for the operating temperature of the CFT injector Т ∼ 17 K.. It is shown that the proposed method is promising for developing systems for contactless delivery of CFTs based on the principles of levitation and subsequent injection of CFTs into the center of the ICF reactor chamber at a required velocity. The results of planning a new series of experiments are presented: acceleration of an HTSC sabot followed by injection of a surrogate target into the chamber of the HARPUN KrF laser (FIAN).

Keywords: inertial confinement fusion (ICF), cryogenic fuel target (CFT), noncontact delivery of CFT, high-temperature superconductors (HTSCs), magnetic levitation (MAGLEV).