National Ignition Facility record laser shot

[bobbymike]

From Global Security Newswire:

Giant Laser Shot Creates Nuclear Fusion Conditions
Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010

A massive laser system at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California created the conditions necessary for nuclear fusion when it concentrated an unprecedented level of energy on a target within several billionths of a second, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 11. 2009).

In the test at the laboratory's National Ignition Facility, 192 giant lasers fired more than one megajoule of energy -- more than 30 times the amount of energy ever fired by another laser array -- at a tiny, spherical target containing deuterium and tritium. The process generated levels of heat and pressure similar to conditions inside the sun, causing the hydrogen isotopes to fuse and release more energy than the amount released by the lasers.

The process could help measure the safety and reliability of weapons in the U.S. nuclear stockpile, but it might also have energy and other applications, NNSA administrator Thomas D'Agostino said in a press release.

"This accomplishment is a major milestone that demonstrates both the power and the reliability of NIF’s integrated laser system, the precision targets and the integration of the scientific diagnostics needed to begin ignition experiments,” Ed Moses, the facility's director, said in the statement.

“NIF has shown that it can consistently deliver the energy required to conduct ignition experiments later this year,” Moses said (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration release, Jan. 27).

 

[Hammer Birchgrove]

If the test reactor is used for energy research (when not researching improvements on hydrogen bombs), what's the benefit for using laser ignited fusion over Tokamak & stellarator designs?

 

[Simon666]

If the test reactor is used for energy research (when not researching improvements on hydrogen bombs), what's benefit for using laser ignited fusion over Tokamak & stellarator designs?

It's just an alternative. Tokamaks and stellerators and other stuff (there's plenty of concepts around) might not work out. Personally, I think even if fully technically successful it wouldn't be commercially successful at all, given the price of the laser, though if successful cheaper drivers might be considered and could be developed.

 

[Hammer Birchgrove]

If the test reactor is used for energy research (when not researching improvements on hydrogen bombs), what's benefit for using laser ignited fusion over Tokamak & stellarator designs?

It's just an alternative. Tokamaks and stellerators and other stuff (there's plenty of concepts around) might not work out. Personally, I think even if fully technically successful it wouldn't be commercially successful at all, given the price of the laser, though if successful cheaper drivers might be considered and could be developed.

I see, thanks Simon.

 

[Steve Pace]

Check this out - by yours truly.

 

[Hammer Birchgrove]

Good. Now we're prepared to deal with alien (extra-terrestrial) invasions.

 

[mz]

So how about enough of these raygun airplanes, say, hundreds or thousands, flying around and at the same time firing to the same point, causing fusion? In clear weather you could be far away. Could you cause fusion in more ordinary materials? Say, in the lithium in a cell phone or laptop battery? And would that legally constitute a nuclear attack? ;D

 

[shockonlip]

So how about enough of these raygun airplanes, say, hundreds or thousands, flying around and at the same time firing to the same point, causing fusion? In clear weather you could be far away. Could you cause fusion in more ordinary materials? Say, in the lithium in a cell phone or laptop battery? And would that legally constitute a nuclear attack? ;D

I'm no expert on fusion, but if you notice that NIF has 192 giant laser beams all surrounding a tiny spherical target containing deuterium and tritium.
Assuming you will just do what NIF does, I'm not sure how you are going to exactly pull this off!

I suspect that the laser light doesn't have to propogate through air in the NIF case, like your laser
death fleet will have to deal with, and someone is going to have to toss the deuterium/tritium target out the door of one of the airplanes so your laser
death fleet can all shoot it perfectly as it tumbles and gets thrown around by the atmosphere (something else NIF doesn't have to deal with). And you'll
all have to make sure you don't shoot each other as well. And I suspect that 192 giant lasers in 192 C-130's, bobbing around in the air, will be slightly
hazardous on the probabilities of failures in 192 aircraft, compared to NIF's genty resting lasers and target.

Plus we've all heard about the guys you hire for your laser death fleet !

So I think you will have to be content with the preferred past time of the laser death fleet, namely trying to open a wormhole through which the leather
goddesses from the planet phobos invasion fleet will swarm through, turning all of us into sex slaves !

 

[bobbymike]

Although test done at University of Rochester will transfer to LLNL NIF

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/09/omega-laser-producing-five-times-higher.html