Chemical-Explosion Thermonuclear

Thermonuclear weapons are typically a mass of fusion fuel (with some other items) that are ignited to fusion temperatures by a fission bomb "match." The requirement of an atom bomb to light off your h-bomb is a bit inefficient. In science fiction one occasionally encounters fusion weapons that contain unobtanium capacitors powering honking huge lasers to ignite fusion. You might save on plutonium, but this is hardly cheaper than conventional fusion warheads.

Finn van Donkelaar has been playing around with another concept. It might be barely possible to ignite a small fusion reaction using chemical explosives. Maybe. Not out of the question. Possibly. Not impossible. Sort of.

His initial write up is very interesting reading, abet loaded with nasty equations. He notes it has a lower yield-to-weight ratio compared to conventional fusion warheads (which is bad), but has a couple of advantages. Which you can read about in the report.

He calculate the device in the diagram above is at the low end of possible yields. Mass of 20 kilograms, length of 45 centimeters, diameter of 8 centimeters, and a yield of 250 kg of TNT. Scaled up to largest reasonably portable size the same design would have a mass of 1.6 metric tons, length of 2.5 meters, diameter of 40 centimeters, and a yield of 2 kilotons of TNT.