Teller-Ulam design Hydrogen Bomb

The

Teller–Ulam design

is anuclear weapon designwhich is used inmegaton-range thermonuclear weapons,and is more colloquially referred to as "the secret of the

hydrogen bomb

". It is named after two of its chief contributors, Hungarian born physicistEdward Teller and Polish born mathematician Stanisław Ulam, who developed the design in1951.The idea is generally thought to pertain specifically to the use of a fissionbomb "trigger" placed near an amount of fusionfuel, known as "staging", and the use of "radiation implosion" to compress the fusion fuel before igniting it. There are anumber of other additions and variations to this idea posited by different sources.

The basics of the Teller–Ulam configuration: a fission bomb uses radiation tocompress and heat a separate section of fusion fuel.

The first device to be based on this principle was detonated by theUnited Statesin the"Ivy Mike"nuclear testin 1952. In theSoviet Union, this design was known asAndrei Sakharov's "

Third Idea

". Similar devices were developed by theUnited Kingdom, France,China,andIsrael,though no specific codenames are known for their designs.

Public body of knowledge concerning nuclear weapon design

Detailed knowledge of actual fission and fusion weapons isclassifiedto some degree invirtually every industrialized nation. In the United States, such "knowledge" can by

default be classified as

Restricted Data

even if it is created by persons who are notgovernment employees or associated with weapons programs, in a legal doctrine knownas " born secret" (though the constitutional standing of the doctrine has been at timescalled into question, see

United States v. The Progressive, et al.

). Born-secret is rarelyinvoked for cases of private speculation. The official policy of the United StatesDepartment of Energyhas been not to acknowledge the leaking of design information, assuch acknowledgement would potentially validate the information as accurate. In a smallnumber of prior cases, though (see prior restraint

), the U.S. government has attempted tocensor weapons information in the public press, with limited success.Though large quantities of vague data have been officially released, and larger quantitiesof vague data have been unofficially leaked by ex-bomb designers, most publicdescriptions of nuclear weapon design details rely to some degree on speculation, reverseengineering from known information, or comparison with similar fields of physics(inertial confinement fusionis the primary example). Such processes have resulted in a body of unclassified knowledge about nuclear bombs which is generally consistent withofficial unclassified information releases, related physics, and is thought to be internallyconsistent, though there are some points of interpretation which are still considered open.The state of public knowledge about the Teller–Ulam design has been most reliablyshaped from a few specific incidences outlined in a section below.

Basic principle

The basic principle of the Teller–Ulam configuration is based upon the idea that different parts of a thermonuclear weapon can be chained together in "stages" which allow for thefulldetonation of each. At a bare minimum, this implies a

primary

section which consistsof a fissionbomb (a "trigger"), and a

secondary

section which consists of fusion fuel.Because of the staged design, it is thought that a

tertiary

section, again of fusion fuel,could be added as well, based on the same principle of the

secondary

. The energyreleased by the

primary

compresses the

secondary

through the concept of "radiationimplosion", at which point it is heated and undergoesnuclear fusion. One possible version of the Teller–Ulam configuration.

Surrounding the other components is ahohlraumor

radiation case

, a container whichtraps the first stage or primary's energy inside temporarily. The outside of this radiationcase, which is also normally the outside casing of the bomb, is the only direct visualevidence publicly available of any thermonuclear bomb component's configuration. Numerous photographs of various thermonuclear bomb exteriors have been declassified.The primary is thought to be a standardimplosion methodfission bomb, though likelywith a core boostedby small amounts of fusion fuel for extra efficiency; the fusion fuelreleases excessneutronswhen heated and compressed, inducing additional fission.Generally, an entity with the capacity to create a thermonuclear bomb has alreadymastered the ability to engineer boosted fission. When fired, the plutonium-239(Pu-239) and/or uranium-235(U-235) core would be compressed to a smaller sphere by speciallayers of conventional high explosives arranged around it in a lens pattern, initiating thenuclear chain reactionthat powers the conventional "atomic bomb".The secondary is usually shown as a columnof fusion fuel and other components wrapped in many layers. Around the column is first a "pusher-tamper", a heavy layer of unenricheduranium-238 (U-238) or leadwhich serves to help compress the fusion fuel (and, in the case of uranium, may eventually undergo fission itself). Inside this is thefusion fuel itself, usually a form of lithium deuteride,which is used because it is easier to weaponize than liquified tritium/deuterium gas (see Ivy Mikeexperiment). This dry fuel, when bombarded byneutrons, producestritium,a heavyisotopeof hydrogen which can undergonuclear fusion, along with thedeuteriumpresent in the mixture. (See the article onnuclear fusion for a more detailed technical discussion of fusion reactions.) Inside the layer of fuel is the "spark plug", a hollow column of fissile material (plutonium-239 or uranium-235) which, when compressed, can itself undergo nuclear fission (because of theshape, it is not acritical masswithout compression). The tertiary, if one is present, would be set below the secondary and probably be made up of the same materials.A more simplified explanation of the above would be as follows:1.Animplosion assembly type of fission bomb is exploded. This is the primary stage. If a small amount of tritiumgas is placed near the primary explosion, it will be compressed and a fusion reaction will occur; the released neutrons from thisfusion reaction will induce further fission in the plutonium-239 or uranium-235used in the primary stage. The use of fusion fuel to enhance the efficiency of afission reaction is called boosting. Without boosting, a large portion of the fissilematerial will remain unreacted; theLittle BoyandFat Manbombs had an efficiencyof only 1.4% and 14%, respectively, because they were unboosted.2.Energy released in the primary stage is transferred to the secondary (or fusion)stage. The exact mechanism whereby this happens is unknown (see speculationregarding this below). This energy heats and compresses the fusion fuel, which isnecessary to induce fusion; the fusion reaction releases neutrons as a product.Generally, increasing the kinetic energy of gas molecules contained in a limitedvolume will increase both temperature and pressure (seegas laws