Experimental progress in Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MAGLIF)

Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion
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(MagLIF) is a magneto-inertial fusion concept being evaluated on the Z machine at Sandia National Laboratories. In MagLIF, first an axial magnetic field is applied to a metal cylinder filled deuterium gas, next a laser heats the deuterium gas to 100s of eV, and then the target is magnetically-imploded using the Z machine current. The axial magnetic field reduces radial thermal conduction losses during laser heating and throughout the implosion, and it helps confine charged fusion products at stagnation. Laser heating increases the fuel temperature at the start of the implosion, which reduces the required radial convergence of the target to achieve multi-keV temperatures at stagnation.