Lecture Notes in Physics

4 A.B. Borisov et al.
Power density (W/cm 3 )
Fig. 1.1. History of power technology that illustrates a range spanning more than
10 40 in power density. This range corresponds physically to the development from
raw manpower to rapid particle decay. The present status, roughly situated at
10 20 W/cm 3 , is experimentally associated with nuclear explosives, laser-induced nuclear
fission [2, 3, 4], and coherent X-ray amplification [5, 6]. An estimated, power
density limit that could be achieved by the channeling of multikilovolt X-rays in a
high-Z solid, designated as Ωα ∼ 10 30 − 10 31 W/cm 3 , is indicated
the practical production of the power densities sufficient for amplification in
the γ-ray region associated with nuclear transitions.
The history of power compression that is presented in Fig. 1.1 illustrates
the presence of several developmental epochs. Each is separated by a factor of
approximately 10 10 and each stage marks a technological breakthrough. Also
apparent from this history is the fact that the attainment of each new level in
power density generally manifests itself in two forms. Initially, a state of matter
is produced from which a largely uncontrolled energy release is obtained, such
as that associated with a chemical explosive. This signal event is subsequently
followed by an additional innovation, in this case of conventional explosives
the cannon, that generates an ordered controlled outcome that channels the
energy. Control is thus conjoined with power at each stage of the development.
At the level of 10 20 W/cm 3 , as shown in Fig. 1.1, nuclear explosives and coherent
X-ray amplification, respectively, correspond to the uncontrolled and
controlled forms. In this case, the innovation leading to the multikilovolt Xray
amplification is the combination of (1) a new concept for amplification,
which involves the creation of a highly ordered composite state of matter incorporating
ionic, plasma, and coherent radiative components, with (2) the
use of two recently discovered (∼1990) forms of radially symmetric energetic