Ablating Pellets for Areal Density Symmetry Control in Indirectly Driven Inertial Confinement Fusion Target Designs (opens in new tab)

Author(s): O. A. Hurricane, D. J. Strozzi, S. A. Maclaren, and C. WeberAsymmetry of the compressed fusion fuel configuration, as characterized by a variation in areal density, in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions is a known performance limitation. While ignition has been achieved on the National Ignition Facility (NIF), implosion symmetry was not perfect, an…[Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 245101] Published Tue Jun 16, 2026