Diamond structures as fuel capsules for nuclear fusion

Abstract

Fuel capsules usable in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) reactors have shells made from materials having a diamond (sp 3 ) lattice structure, including diamond materials in synthetic crystalline, polycrystalline (ordered or disordered), nanocrystalline and amorphous forms. The interior of the shell is filled with a fusion fuel mixture, including any combination of deuterium and/or tritium and/or helium- 3 and/or other fusible isotopes.

1 - 113 . (canceled) 
     
     
         114 . An article of manufacture, comprising:
 a shell enclosing a hollow volume; wherein a nanocrystalline diamond film having a surface roughness less than about 400 nm comprises the wall of said shell.   
     
     
         115 . The article of  claim 114 , wherein said diamond film comprises a surface roughness less than about 200 nm. 
     
     
         116 . The article of  claim 114 , wherein said diamond film comprises a surface roughness between about 10 nm and about 75 nm. 
     
     
         117 . The article of  claim 114 , wherein said wall further comprises a thickness from about 5 microns to about 1000 microns. 
     
     
         118 . The article of  claim 114 , wherein said wall further comprises a thickness from about 10 micrometers to about 200 micrometers. 
     
     
         119 . The article of  claim 114 , wherein said wall further comprises a thickness uniformity of better than about +/−b  1 %. 
     
     
         120 . The article of  claim 114 , wherein said enclosed hollow volume comprises a length between about 0.3 mm and about 5 mm along a long dimension. 
     
     
         121 . The article of  claim 120 , wherein at least one filling selected from a solid and a fluid is disposed therein said hollow volume. 
     
     
         122 . The article of  claim 120 , wherein at least one fusion fuel selected from deuterium and tritium is disposed therein said hollow volume. 
     
     
         123 . The article of  claim 122 , wherein said fusion fuel further comprises a frozen layer of deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel and a central DT gas core. 
     
     
         124 . The article of  claim 122 , wherein said fusion fuel comprises a pressure greater than about 1 atm. 
     
     
         125 . The article of  claim 114 , wherein said diamond film further comprises a dopant. 
     
     
         126 . The article of  claim 124 , wherein said dopant comprises up to about 5% of the atomic fraction of the coating. 
     
     
         127 . The article of  claim 124 , wherein said dopant comprises at least one element selected from: hydrogen, carbon, argon, boron, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, tungsten, tantalum, and phosphorus. 
     
     
         128 . The article of  claim 114 , wherein the wall comprises at least one perforation. 
     
     
         129 . The article of  claim 126 , wherein said perforation comprises a diameter between about 5 micrometers and about 200 micrometers. 
     
     
         130 . A method of fabricating a diamond shell, comprising:
 providing a substrate;   symmetrically depositing a diamond film on said substrate;   removing said substrate so as to produce a hollow core;   refilling said hollow core with a nuclear fuel; and   focusing an ion beam on one or more fill perforations in a C 14 H 10  atmosphere so as to produce a target use for inertial confinement fusion.