European heavy ion ICF driver development

Approaches in Europe to heavy ion induced Inertial Confinement Fusion are oriented toward the linac-plus-storage ring technique. Despite the very limited support of this work, technical progress was achieved in some important areas. For the immediate future, a substantial intensity upgrade of the GSI accelerator facilities at Darmstadt is being implemented, leading to specific energy depositions of the order of 100 kT/g and plasma temperatures of 10 to 20 eV. For the longer term, a conceptual design study of a heavy ion based Ignition Facility is being initiated