Antimatter Induced Fusion and Thermonuclear Explosions *

The feasibility of using antihydrogen for igniting inertial confinement fusion pellets or triggering large-scale thermonuclear explosions is investigated. The number of antiproton annihilations required to start a thermonuclear burn wave in either DT or Li2DT is found to be about 10/κ, where κ is the compression factor of the fuel to be ignited. In the second part, the technologies for producing antiprotons with high energy accelerator systems and the means for manipulating and storing microgram amounts of antihydrogen are examined. While there seems to be no theoretical obstacles to the production of 10 antiprotons per day (the amount required for triggering one thermonuclear bomb), the construction of such a plant involves several techniques which are between 3 and 4 orders of magnitude away from present day technology. Considering the financial and energy investments needed to produce antimatter, applications will probably remain confined to the military domain. Since antihydrogen-triggered thermonuclear explosives are very compact and have extremely reduced fallout, we conclude that such devices will enhance the proliferation of nuclear weapons and further diffuse the distinction between low-yield nuclear weapons and conventional explosives.