Laser-induced adiabat shaping by relaxation in inertial fusion implosions

The theory of laser-induced adiabat shaping is carried out for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) capsules. It is shown that a significant improvement of the stability characteristics of ICF implosions can be achieved by shaping the adiabat inside the imploding shell. The optimized adiabat profile has a maximum on the outer ablation surface to lower Rayleigh-Taylor growth rates, and a minimum on the shell inner surface for high compressibility and high neutron yields. Laser-induced adiabat shaping is produced via relaxation using a weak prepulse followed by laser shut-off and the main laser pulse. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.