Recent progress in the Los Alamos KrF Program

The goal of the Inertial Confinement Fusion Program (ICF) is to develop the ability to ignite and burn small masses of thermonuclear fuel. Although the present near-term objectives of the program are directed toward defense applications, ICF research continues to be carried out with a view to the longer term goal of commercial power production. The characteristics of a KrF laser make it an attractive candidate as an ICF driver. The KrF wavelength of 248 nm provides a target coupling that is very high at intensities of 10(14) w/sq cm. In addition, the KrF laser can be repetitively operated at frequencies appropriate for a power reactor and has an intrinsically high efficiency, which allows projections to the long-term goal of energy production. The ICF program at Los Alamos consists of driver development, target design and fabrication, and target experimentation. The major effort at present is the investigation and development of KrF technology to determine its applicability for use in a laboratory driver at Los Alamos. Such a driver would be used in defense related technology studies and in areas of scientific study such as highly ionized materials and high energy density physics.