Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) has existed as a field of study since the 1970s, but the field was born out of the Cold War. In the decades since the 1960s, pioneering research developing the principles and technologies of ICF has culminated in the creation of three major Department of Energy facilities that still exist today: the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the OMEGA laser at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, and the $Z$ pulsed power facility at Sandia National Laboratories. While the technology of ICF facilities themselves is interesting, this review concentrates upon the physics principles of the targets fielded on U.S. ICF facilities and upon results from the last decade of research. While there have been periods of frustration on the road to ICF ignition, recent research has demonstrated great leaps in understanding what aspects of the implosions need more control. Tangible progress in ICF is evident as burning plasmas and ignited plasmas have recently been generated, repeatedly, on the NIF stemming from decades of science and engineering understanding generated from work at the three previously mentioned facilities and in the international community.

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惯性约束聚变的物理原理和美国计划概述

惯性约束核聚变 (ICF) 自 20 世纪 70 年代起就作为一个研究领域存在，但该领域诞生于冷战时期。自 20 世纪 60 年代以来的几十年里，开发 ICF 原理和技术的开拓性研究最终促成了至今仍存在的三个主要能源部设施的创建：劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室的国家点火设施 (NIF)、位于劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室的 OMEGA 激光器。激光能量学实验室和$Z$桑迪亚国家实验室的脉冲电源设施。虽然 ICF 设施本身的技术很有趣，但本次审查重点关注美国 ICF 设施上部署的目标的物理原理以及过去十年的研究结果。虽然在 ICF 点火的道路上曾经历过一段时期的挫折，但最近的研究表明，在理解内爆的哪些方面需要更多控制方面取得了巨大的飞跃。 ICF 的切实进展是显而易见的，因为最近在 NIF 上反复产生了燃烧等离子体和点燃等离子体，这些等离子体源于前面提到的三个设施和国际社会数十年的科学和工程理解。