The characteristics of, and energy transfer mechanisms involved in, thermonuclear detonation are discussed. What makes the fundamental difference between thermonuclear and chemical detonation is that the former has a high specific energy release and can therefore be employed for preliminarily compressing the thermonuclear mixture ahead of the burning wave. Consequently, with moderate (megajoule) initiation energies, a steady-state detonation laboratory experiment with unlimited energy multiplication becomes a possibility.

PACS: 44.90.+c, 47.40.−x (all) DOI: 10.1070/PU1998v041n11ABEH000506 URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/1998/11/f/ 000077738800005 Citation: Feoktistov L P "Thermonuclear detonation" Phys. Usp. 41 1139–1147 (1998) BibTexBibNote ® (generic)BibNote ® (RIS)MedlineRefWorks Оригинал: Феоктистов Л П «Термоядерная детонация» УФН 168 1247–1255 (1998); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.0168.199811f.1247