LLNL – Lawrence Livermore’s National Ignition Facility achieves record laser energy in pursuit of fusion ignition
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory – Lawrence Livermore’s National Ignition Facility achieves record laser energy in pursuit of fusion ignition
By Breanna Bishop | 21 March 2012
LIVERMORE, Calif. — The National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world’s most energetic laser, surpassed a critical milestone in its efforts to meet one of modern science’s greatest challenges: achieving fusion ignition and energy gain in a laboratory setting. NIF’s 192 lasers fired in perfect unison, delivering a record 1.875 million joules (MJ) of ultraviolet laser light to the facility’s target chamber center.
This historic laser shot involved a shaped pulse of energy 23 billionths of a second long that generated 411 trillion watts (TW) of peak power (1,000 times more than the United States uses at any instant in time).
The record-breaking shot was made March 15.
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