The paper presents a parameter study of implosion, ignition conditions, burn and gain of a single-shell, multi-layered, heavy-ion-beam driven ICF target as a function of input pulse parameters including input power, input energy, incident ion range and pulse shape. It is shown that a prepulse is necessary to achieve central ignition in the fuel. Moreover, the target gain is very sensitive to the level of the prepulse power. The minimum power in the main pulse required to ignite this target is 500 TW. Some calculations are also done by using different ignitor masses to help in understanding the process of spark formation under different conditions. The effect of the shortening of the range of the incident ions on the target gain and the ignition conditions is also considered. These simulation results are explained in terms of the theory of isentropic compression and the theory of shock waves. In this way, it is shown how ignition in such a target is obtained and how its performance is optimized in order to achieve maximum fractional burn and gain.
Implosion and ignition of magnetized cylindrical targets driven by heavy-ion beams