The path to electrical energy using laser fusion

Abstract

Direct-drive laser fusion has one potential advantage over all other approaches to fusion energy. The hot plasma can be kept near or below the various plasma instability thresholds, if one uses purely spherical targets, with a short wavelength, large bandwidth and optically smoothed excimer laser. Instead of trying to manage laser–plasma instabilities, one avoids them. There is a path to complete the evaluation and development of this energy option, with moderate costs and a moderate time scale. Glass lasers, with their longer wavelength and narrower bandwidth, are no longer useful to evaluate fusion targets.