Modelling charged-particle transport and heating in fusion plasmas

The project will investigate a very important aspect of inertial confinement fusion: the internal heating by fusion products. Recently, inertial confinement fusion has made considerable progress reaching the stage of substantial internal heating and later positive energy outcome (ignition) in several experiments. However, it requires extremely high densities and temperatures which make modelling very hard. This is particularly true for the interaction of the alpha-particles created in fusion events as the high density creates very strong interactions. The project will be done in cooperation with an industrial partner, First Light Fusion (FLF) near Oxford. FLF is pursuing controlled nuclear fusion using a scheme based on the 'volume ignition' concept. Achieving maximum energy gain requires a detailed understanding and high-fidelity modelling capability of the processes by which the alpha-particles created are transported through the fuel and heat the plasma. This principally requires knowledge of the 'stopping power' of fusion fuel, a topic covered extensively in literature, but remains uncertain for the extreme conditions during fusion burn. Moreover, for a strongly burning target, where >50% of the DT fuel is burned, the composition of the fuel changes substantially. This is expected to impact the stopping power as well as the equation of state and heating energetics of the fuel. This project seeks to evaluate and contrast the state-of-the-art in these fields and verify against first-principles simulations and experiments. It will also seek to establish a minimum credible capability for burn dynamics that will inform FLF's strategic plan for developing our ICF design codes. Main questions to be answered during the project are: What are the differences between the current state-of-the-art stopping power models and how do these compare to first-principles simulations? What is the most minimum credible capability required for accurately modelling fusion burn in an...