Argon fluoride (ArF) is currently the shortest wavelength laser that can credibly scale to the energy and power required for high gain inertial fusion. ArF's deep ultraviolet light and capability to provide much wider bandwidth than other contemporary inertial confinement fusion (ICF) laser drivers would drastically improve the laser target coupling efficiency and enable substantially higher pressures to drive an implosion. Our radiation hydrodynamics simulations indicate gains greater than 100 are feasible with a sub-megajoule ArF driver. Our laser kinetics simulations indicate that the electron beam-pumped ArF laser can have intrinsic efficiencies of more than 16%, versus about 12% for the next most efficient krypton fluoride excimer laser. We expect at least 10% ‘wall plug' efficiency for delivering ArF light to target should be achievable using solid-state pulsed power and efficient electron beam transport to the laser gas that was demonstrated with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's Electra facility. These advantages could enable the development of modest size and lower cost fusion power plant modules. This would drastically change the present view on inertial fusion energy as being too expensive and the power plant size too large. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Prospects for high gain inertial fusion energy (part 1)'.

中文翻译：

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使用氟化氩激光器直接驱动，作为使用亚兆焦耳激光能量获得高聚变增益的途径

氟化氩 (ArF) 是目前波长最短的激光器，可以可靠地扩展到高增益惯性聚变所需的能量和功率。ArF 的深紫外光和提供比其他当代惯性约束聚变 (ICF) 激光驱动器更宽带宽的能力将极大地提高激光目标耦合效率，并使驱动内爆的压力大大提高。我们的辐射流体动力学模拟表明，使用亚兆焦耳 ArF 驱动器可以获得大于 100 的增益。我们的激光动力学模拟表明，电子束泵浦的 ArF 激光器的固有效率可以超过 16%，而下一个最有效的氟化氪准分子激光器的固有效率约为 12%。我们预计至少有 10% 的“墙上插头” 使用固态脉冲功率和有效的电子束传输到激光气体，应该可以实现将 ArF 光传输到目标的效率，这在美国海军研究实验室的 Electra 设施中得到了证明。这些优势可以使中等尺寸和低成本聚变电站模块的开发成为可能。这将彻底改变目前对惯性聚变能源过于昂贵且发电厂规模太大的看法。本文是讨论会议问题“高增益惯性聚变能的前景（第 1 部分）”的一部分。这些优势可以使中等尺寸和低成本聚变电站模块的开发成为可能。这将彻底改变目前对惯性聚变能源过于昂贵且发电厂规模太大的看法。本文是讨论会议问题“高增益惯性聚变能的前景（第 1 部分）”的一部分。这些优势可以使中等尺寸和低成本聚变电站模块的开发成为可能。这将彻底改变目前对惯性聚变能源过于昂贵且发电厂规模太大的看法。本文是讨论会议问题“高增益惯性聚变能的前景（第 1 部分）”的一部分。