LIBRA-LiTE, a Ballistic Focus Light Ion Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor

Ballistic propagation of ions in a light ion Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) reactor has potential advantages over propagation using plasma channels, but it requires that focusing magnets be close to the target. Ballistic transport is simpler and potentially more efficient, but limits on the ion microdivergence make a small focal spot and a large focal length simultaneously impossible. Target ignition requires a beam intensity above some minimum value, assumed to be 127 TW/cm2. To achieve this intensity, one adjusts the total beam energy, the positions of the focusing magnets, the microdivergence of the ion beam, and the time of flight bunching of the beam. LIBRA-LiTE is a 1000 MWe power plant design consistent with ballistic ion focusing, where these parameters have been optimized.