Nonlinear Electron Heat Conduction Equation and Self-Similar Method for 1-D Thermal Waves in the Laser Heating of Solid Density DT Fuel

Abstract

Electron heat conduction is one way that energy transports in laser heating of fusible target material. The aim of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is to show that the thermal conductivity is strongly dependent on temperature and the equation of electron heat conduction is a nonlinear equation. In this article, we solve the one-dimensional (1-D) nonlinear electron heat conduction equation with a self-similar method (SSM). This solution has been used to investigate the propagation of 1-D thermal wave from a deuterium-tritium (DT) plane source, which occurs when a giant laser pulse impinges onto a solid DT target. It corresponds to the physical problem of rapid heating of a boundary layer of material, in which the energy of a laser pulse is released in a finite initial thickness.