Giant laser reaches key milestone for fusion - physics-math - 28 January 2010 - New Scientist
New Scientist reports on progress at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, using the world’s largest laser to compress a spherical pellet in order to ignite a fusion reaction:
The team used targets that did not contain the key ingredients for fusion – two isotopes of hydrogen known as deuterium and tritium. But the symmetrical implosion of the targets suggests that NIF should be able to ignite fusion with laser pulses of 1.2 to 1.3 megajoules – well below its full 1.8-megajoule capacity.
Researchers spent last year slowly cranking up the output of the laser, ultimately reaching a total energy of more than 1 megajoules. Now they’re pausing to mount new instruments on the 10-centimetre-thick aluminium target chamber and to install giant concrete doors to contain neutrons they expect to produce in future fusion experiments.
