Direct laser fusion system
In an example, the present invention provides a laser fusion system comprising a reactor, a fusion material within an interior region of the reactor, and a high intensity pulse laser generation system configured by a hub and spoke spatial arrangement of laser cavity regions within the reactor.
1 . A laser fusion system, the system comprising:
a reactor housing, the reactor housing having a diameter and defining an interior region maintained in a vacuum environment;
wherein the interior region comprises a reaction region at a center of the reactor housing and a peripheral region surrounding the reaction region;
a fuel target disposed in the reaction region at the center of the reactor housing;
a plurality of mirrors positioned on an interior surface of the reactor housing, the plurality of mirrors arranged in N pairs, where N is greater than or equal to 10, each pair of mirrors comprising a first mirror and a second mirror diametrically opposed to the first mirror, wherein each pair of mirrors defines a Fabry Perot resonant cavity that extends linearly from the first mirror to the second mirror along the diameter of the reactor housing and intersects with the center of the reactor housing;
N laser light sources, each source coupled to the first mirror of each pair of mirrors and configured to emit a laser beam to the first mirror such that the laser beam propagates in the respective Fabry Perot resonant cavity between each respective pair of mirrors and increases in intensity from a first intensity to a second intensity for M cycles, where M is greater than or equal to 1000; and
wherein each laser beam in each Fabry Perot resonant cavity intersects within the fuel target to cause nuclear fusion.
2 . The system of claim 1 wherein each pair of mirrors includes a photo diode detector coupled to the second mirror.
3 . The system of claim 1 wherein each of the plurality of mirrors is a curved or deformable mirror.
4 . The system of claim 1 wherein N is less than or equal to 200.
5 . The system of claim 1 wherein each of the N laser light sources is configured to output the laser beam with a pulse energy power of 0.01 Joule and greater or a continuous wave (CW) power of 10 kW and greater.
6 . The system of claim 1 further comprising a fuel target delivery device configured on an exterior region of the reactor housing, wherein the fuel target delivery device is coupled to a tube within the interior region of the reactor housing, wherein the tube includes a tube opening region that has a pressure lower than atmospheric pressure; and wherein the fuel target delivery device is configured to transfer the fuel target through the tube opening region to the reaction region.
7 . The system of claim 1 wherein the fuel target comprises a fuel pellet configured within is a hohlraum.
8 . The system of claim 1 wherein the fuel target comprises a fuel pellet configured within a hohlraum; and wherein the laser beam from each laser light source is irradiated to an inside surface of the hohlraum to generate X-rays that interact with the fuel pellet.
9 . The system of claim 1 wherein the fuel target comprises a fuel pellet configured within a hohlraum; and wherein the laser beam from each laser light source is irradiated to an inside surface of the hohlraum to generate X-rays that irradiate the fuel pellet to generate a reaction of nuclear fusion.
10 . The system of claim 1 further comprising
a fuel target delivery device coupled to the reactor housing, wherein the fuel target delivery device is coupled to a tube within the interior region of the reactor housing and configured to deliver the fuel target to the reaction region, and wherein the fuel target includes a fuel pellet or a hohlraum with a fuel pellet disposed within;
a timing device coupled to the fuel target delivery device and configured to generate operation signals; and
a driver device coupled between the timing device and the fuel target delivery device and configured to receive the operation signals and generate control signals for the fuel target delivery device.
11 . The system of claim 1 further comprising a fuel target delivery device configured on an exterior region of the reactor housing, wherein the fuel target delivery device is coupled to a tube within the interior region of the reactor housing and configured to deliver the fuel target to the reaction region.
12 . The system of claim 11 wherein the tube has an opening that is less than 1 meters or 0.5 meters from the reaction region.
13 . The system of claim 12 wherein the fuel target delivery device is configured to deliver the fuel target via the tube at a speed of 0.5 km/sec to 50 km/sec at the reaction region.
14 . The system of claim 12 wherein the fuel target delivery device is configured to accelerate the fuel target to a speed greater than 0.5 km/sec by using a pressure difference between a tube opening region of the tube and an inside region of the fuel target delivery device.
15 . The system of claim 11 wherein the fuel target delivery device is configured to deliver the fuel target via the tube at a repetition rate of 1 Hz to 30 Hz to the reaction region.
16 . The system of claim 1 wherein each of the mirrors is a curved mirror with a reflectivity of more than 99.99%.