Inertial fusion ignition (NIF)
Ignición por fusión inercial (National Ignition Facility)
- Date
- 2022 · confidence high
- Place
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California, United States
- Credited to
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 5 December 2022
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
For the first time, a fusion reaction in the laboratory produced more energy (3.15 MJ) than the laser energy that triggered it (2.05 MJ), by compressing a deuterium-tritium capsule with 192 lasers. It demonstrated scientific gain.
The gain is measured against the laser energy on the target, not against the electricity consumed by the facility (roughly a hundred times greater).
What it led to
- Laser inertial fusion companies
- The validation of nuclear weapon simulations without testing
- Investor and political interest in fusion as an energy source
Built on
- Hydrogen bomb (Ivy Mike)1952
- The laser (and maser)1960
- supercomputing
Made possible
- commercial inertial fusion (in development)
- high-energy lasers