It is not very difficult to trouble shoot the TN device. The FBF trigger worked. I am sure BARC has a simulation code that yields the spectrum of gamma rays yielded from such a weapon. This is simply bread and butter radiation hydrodynamics and I have no doubt that BARC has experts on such codes.
The problem is how to convert the super high energy Gamma rays to X-rays and develop uniform pressure on the LiD material. Why is that needed? A straight forward application of Gamma rays on the LiD sample will not work because the radiation pressure of the Gamma rays will not <b>uniformly </b> squeeze the LiD sample and cause the material to fuse. You want to surround that LiD with some fluid like material that will transmit the pressure due to the Gamma rays uniformly. It is like what happens to a submarine when it is fully submerged in water. The submarine hull feels the water pressure from all directions. Thus you must surround the LiD material by some material that will be converted to a dense plasma which will behave like water. Then the LiD material surrounded by this dense fluid like plasma will feel a uniform pressure and will fuse.
That means you have to estimate the rise of the temperature of the material surrounding the LiD material. You will have to know how quickly the temperature rises. You will have to know the time frame in which the material surrounding the LiD material becomes a plasma and squeezes the LiD material uniformly. Time is of the essence because the blast wave of matter from the trigger will disassemble the LiD part of the weapon in an extremely short time.
So you need to know the cross section of Gamma Rays (wavelength of the order of 1 Angstrom) hitting the material surrounding the LiD sample. You also have to know the variation of this cross section with the spectrum of Gamma rays. You need to know how the thickness of the material surrounding the LID sample affects the rise in temperature and plasma formation. You can know all this quite straight forwardly by firing pulsed extremely energetic laser at such materials (with out the LiD sample). The pulse will simulate the FBF trigger.
So fixing the problem with the S1 TN device is not difficult. It seems quite clear that the fission trigger disassembled the LiD and the material surrounding it before the LiD could be squeezed by the surrounding material plasma. My guess is that one could probably make a TN device by learning the requisite cross sections. The problem is that plasma simulation codes are not very reliable. Physicists really do not understand the behaviour of plasma. So testing is needed to check the reliability of a TN weapon.
The problem is how to convert the super high energy Gamma rays to X-rays and develop uniform pressure on the LiD material. Why is that needed? A straight forward application of Gamma rays on the LiD sample will not work because the radiation pressure of the Gamma rays will not <b>uniformly </b> squeeze the LiD sample and cause the material to fuse. You want to surround that LiD with some fluid like material that will transmit the pressure due to the Gamma rays uniformly. It is like what happens to a submarine when it is fully submerged in water. The submarine hull feels the water pressure from all directions. Thus you must surround the LiD material by some material that will be converted to a dense plasma which will behave like water. Then the LiD material surrounded by this dense fluid like plasma will feel a uniform pressure and will fuse.
That means you have to estimate the rise of the temperature of the material surrounding the LiD material. You will have to know how quickly the temperature rises. You will have to know the time frame in which the material surrounding the LiD material becomes a plasma and squeezes the LiD material uniformly. Time is of the essence because the blast wave of matter from the trigger will disassemble the LiD part of the weapon in an extremely short time.
So you need to know the cross section of Gamma Rays (wavelength of the order of 1 Angstrom) hitting the material surrounding the LiD sample. You also have to know the variation of this cross section with the spectrum of Gamma rays. You need to know how the thickness of the material surrounding the LID sample affects the rise in temperature and plasma formation. You can know all this quite straight forwardly by firing pulsed extremely energetic laser at such materials (with out the LiD sample). The pulse will simulate the FBF trigger.
So fixing the problem with the S1 TN device is not difficult. It seems quite clear that the fission trigger disassembled the LiD and the material surrounding it before the LiD could be squeezed by the surrounding material plasma. My guess is that one could probably make a TN device by learning the requisite cross sections. The problem is that plasma simulation codes are not very reliable. Physicists really do not understand the behaviour of plasma. So testing is needed to check the reliability of a TN weapon.