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How the NIF works (National Ignition Facility)

submitted by flechette
1 decade 4 years 5 months 2 weeks ago

NIF laser hydrogen fusion amplification pew pew

From YouTube description: The National Ignition Facility, located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is the world's largest laser system... 192 huge laser beams in a massive building, all focused down at the last moment at a 2 millimeter ball containing frozen hydrogen gas. The goal is to achieve fusion... getting more energy out than was used to create it. It's never been done before under controlled conditions, just in nuclear weapons and in stars. We expect to do it within the next 2-3 years. The purpose is threefold: to create an almost limitless supply of safe, carbon-free, proliferation-free electricity; examine new regimes of astrophysics as well as basic science; and study the inner-workings of the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons to ensure they remain safe, secure and reliable without the need for underground testing. More information about NIF can be found at: https://lasers.llnl.gov

I like how the whole thing is a beautiful choreography of lasers, mirrors, and power amplification, right up until the end where apparently ultraviolet super amped-up lasers will produce xrays so strong it will make a hydrogen pellet explode. With the power of a star.

2 Comments

jimnms

says...

That's cool and all and I hope it works, but why do we need to build a fusion reactor when we're orbiting a massive one that emits more than enough energy for our needs. We just need to find an efficient way to use that free energy.