Porous materials have peculiar characteristics that are relevant for inertial confinement fusion (ICF). Among them, chemically produced foams are proved to be able to smooth the laser inhomogeneities and to increase the coupling of the laser with the target. Foams realized with other elements and techniques may prove useful as well for ICF applications. In this work, we explore the potential of a novel class of porous materials for ICF, namely, carbon nanofoams produced with the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique, by means of hydrodynamic numerical simulations. By comparison with a simulation of solid-density carbon, PLD nanofoams show a higher pressure at the shock front, which could make them potential good candidates as ablators for a capsule for direct-drive fusion.

中文翻译：

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激光驱动惯性聚变实验用碳纳米泡沫靶的数值研究

多孔材料具有与惯性约束聚变（ICF）相关的独特特性。其中，化学产生的泡沫被证明能够平滑激光的不均匀性并增加激光与目标的耦合。用其他元素和技术实现的泡沫也可能对 ICF 应用有用。在这项工作中，我们通过流体动力学数值模拟探索了一类新型多孔材料用于 ICF 的潜力，即用脉冲激光沉积 (PLD) 技术生产的碳纳米泡沫。通过与固体密度碳的模拟相比，PLD 纳米泡沫在激波前沿表现出更高的压力，这可能使它们成为直接驱动聚变胶囊烧蚀器的潜在良好候选者。