A Physics-Informed Deep Learning Description of Knudsen Layer Reactivity Reduction

A physics-informed neural network (PINN) is used to evaluate the fast ion distribution in the hot spot of an inertial confinement fusion target. The employment of customized input and output layers to the neural network are shown to enable a PINN to learn the parametric solution to the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck equation in the absence of any synthetic or experimental data. While the offline training of the PINN is computationally intensive, online deployment is rapid, thus enabling an efficient surrogate of the fast ion tail across a broad range of hot spot conditions. As an explicit demonstration of the approach, the specific problem of Knudsen layer fusion yield reduction is treated. Here, predictions from the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck PINN are used to provide a non-perturbative solution of the fast ion tail in the vicinity of the hot spot thus allowing the spatial profile of the fusion reactivity to be evaluated for a range of collisionalities and hot spot conditions. Excellent agreement is found between the predictions of the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck PINN and results from traditional numerical solvers with respect to both the energy and spatial distribution of fast ions and the fusion reactivity profile demonstrating that the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck PINN provides an accurate and efficient means of determining the impact of Knudsen layer yield reduction across a broad range of plasma conditions.