A possibility is analyzed to use direct drive cylindrical targets
in the fast ignition mode irradiated by beams of nearly relativistic
heavy ions with long ranges in matter. The minimum beam energy
required to compress the DT fuel in a 1-cm-long target to
(ρR)DT = 0.5 g/cm2,
ρDT = 100 g/cm3 is found to lie
in the range 10–15 MJ. Ignition and axial burn propagation is
achieved with a 0.2-ns, 0.4-MJ pulse of 100-GeV heavy ions. Thermonuclear
energy gains in the range 50–150 appear to be possible.