Inertially confined fusion plasmas dominated by alpha-particle self-heating

Alpha-particle self-heating, the process of deuterium-tritium fusion reaction products depositing their kinetic energy locally within a fusion reaction region and thus increasing the temperature in the reacting region, is essential for achieving ignition in a fusion system. Here, we report new inertial confinement fusion experiments where the alpha-particle heating of the plasma is dominant with the fusion yield produced exceeding the fusion yield from the work done on the fuel (pressure times volume change) by a factor of two or more. These experiments have achieved the highest yield (26 ± 0.5 kJ) and stagnation pressures ( 220 ± 40 Gbar) of any facility-based inertial confinement fusion experiments, although they are still short of the pressures required for ignition on the National Ignition Facility (1/4300-400 Gbar). These experiments put us in a new part of parameter space that has not been extensively studied so far because it lies between the no-alpha-particle-deposition regime and ignition.