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nicuramar t1_j0u87lj wrote

Reply to comment by Jon_Beveryman in How do X-rays “compress” a nuclear fusion pellet? by i_owe_them13

> Technically it’s not! The most effective known way of compressing fusion fuel is to generate an insanely high x-ray pressure using a fission primary. We’ve been doing that since the 50s!

It’s believed that ablation pressure is responsible for the compression of the secondary here as well, and not radiation pressure, as I understand it. Ablation pressure seems unavoidable and is much higher.

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Jon_Beveryman t1_j0u9ayg wrote

I would certainly believe that either is possible, but good ol' Winterberg seems to think that radiation pressure dominates, since it scales so strongly with temperature - to the order of 5000 TPa on the surface of the tamper! Meanwhile the ablation pressure should scale "only" with the P-T EOS of the tamper material.

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nicuramar t1_j0ubtlm wrote

The articles I read analyses that ablation pressure is so dominant as to render radiation pressure irrelevant. But since it’s not publicly known…

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