This book has several remarkable highlights summarized on laser
produced plasmas and particle beam driven fusion energy. In contrast to
the usual books, the nuclear fusion reactions are presented with very
detailed experience, including pycnonuclear reactions, spin polarization,
and mentioning the 25 orders of magnitude less probable weak force
pp-reaction than DT. There is a rather comprehensive collection of the
conditions of confinement, spherical implosion, ignition burn, and gain.
Hydrodynamics is based on a one fluid model, not Schlüter's
space charge quasi-neutral two-fluid model nor the genuine two-fluid
treatment. Hohlraum targets are covered and the fast ignition (FI)
contains the forte of the authors' own achievements though the entire
problems shown experimentally or theoretically (Mulser
et al., 2004) are not discussed nor the new aspects on FI
known before finishing the book (Hora, 2004).
The 36 pages for the entire physics of (laser- and particle-) beam-target
interaction are used to sketch at least the most important aspects.
Of incommensurable value is the Foreword by Ray Kidder. It summarizes
in an unique way the history of ICF with respect to laser fusion for
energy against the border line to weapons research and how the steps of
declassification happened including most of the crucial worldwide
achievements and landmarks for inertial fusion energy. “The basic
principles of high yield-to-weights nuclear weapon design had largely been
learnt and put into practice in 1962, but the intriguing challenge of
‘pure fusion’ remained.” Kidder confirms that it was the
opinion on experiments after 1972 that preheat by hot electrons was
limiting the progress. Unfortunately it was not known before the 1980s
that only an insufficiently small amount of hot electrons were available
for preheat, the most were held back by double layer effects (Eliezer et al., 1989).
American textbooks on electrodynamics mostly are missing the essential
structure of Maxwell's theory—an exception is e.g., in Edward
Ramberg's translation of Arnold Sommerfeld's
“Electrodynamics”—as can be seen in D. Jackson's
bestselling book which is structured from electrostatics in the style
before 1864 (Maxwell). Jackson in the later editions only put
Maxwell's equations on the first few pages falling from the sky
followed by a pre-Maxwellian treatise. For the reviewed book, it would be
necessary that it needs to make understandable to the reader where the
Vlasov equation (11.13) or the wave equation (11.1) comes from. For the
laser waves in plasmas their dielectric response is essential, correctly
given in Eq. (11.9) but the subsequent formula for the absorption Eq.
(11.34) is a low-density approximation only, invalid at or above the
critical density. This limit even was not mentioned while the mechanisms
at the critical density are essential at laser plasma interaction. This is
the reason why e.g. in (11.48) the essential dielectric effects in plasmas
with the dielectric swelling of El over its
vacuum value for the expression of the nonlinear (ponderomotive) force was
not explained. Nevertheless, it should be acknowledged that this book is a
rare exception by mentioning the nonlinear force formulation while most of
similar books are not mentioning this fact at all.
Another important point how the book very positively differs from
others is that it elaborates the volume ignition about which both authors
have worked well mentioning the work of Caruso and Fraley of 1974 where
first approximations of optical re-absorption was included. The later
success with inclusion of the self-heat follows the work of Basko only.
One may understand that the authors joined the field after 1980 only, why
they did not mention the first publication on volume ignition by the
second reviewer (1978) nor the crucial work by John Wheeler, R.
Krikpatrick, S. Colgate, K. Lackner, Xian-tu He, J.-M. Martinez-Val, and
others.
It is positive that the authors mention the discrepancies about the
stopping power of ions based on the important first measurement of much
shorter lengths than expected by Hoffman et al. (1990). The explanation of a factor 35 of difference
well is repeated in the known preliminary way while the difference between
binary and collective interaction still has to be clarified (Deutsch, 2004).
This book summarizes the authors' views and their long years
detailed work in this field well acknowledging several side links form
discussions with colleagues, but this is not the complete view in this
field. It is therefore limited though it has to be acknowledged what
enormous effort has been invested by the authors for producing this very
respectable book.
