NIF & Photon Science News Special Report
New Special Edition NIF Magazine Now Available: Download PDF
Spotlight On:
Threshold of Ignition
Building to a Solution: The Elements of a Fusion Breakthrough
On Aug. 8, 2021, a NIF experiment took a significant step toward ignition, achieving a fusion energy yield of 1.35 megajoules (MJ). This seven-part special report explores how NIF achieved this “Wright Brothers moment” and what it means for science and our nation. Read Part 1...
‘Hybrid’ Experiments Drive NIF Toward Ignition
Part 2: The record shot was part of a series of high-yield big-radius implosion design experiments coupling the best of previous experiments with rapidly advancing diagnostic and modeling technology. Read more...
NIF Diagnostics Played Key Role in Fusion Milestone
Part 3: NIF’s highly specialized and sophisticated measuring instruments known as diagnostics were integral to the record-setting fusion experiment. Read more...
Diamond Capsule Quality Enhanced Record Shot
Part 4: The quality of the high-density carbon (HDC), or diamond, target capsule was a factor in NIF’s record-smashing 1.35-megajoule (MJ) energy-yield experiment. Read more...
Laser and Optics Upgrades Paved Way to Milestone
Part 5: The work of innovative NIF & Photon Science laser system engineering, operations, and optic materials teams prepared NIF for the record-setting Aug. 8 experiment that brought researchers to the threshold of ignition. Read more...
Simulations Help Map NIF’s Path to Ignition
Part 6: ICF researchers use increasingly sophisticated computational models and simulations informed by diagnostic data and analysis of previous experiments to guide them toward ignition. Read more...
Future of Stewardship, Fusion Energy Science
Part 7: Two fields that stand to gain from NIF’s record shot are stockpile stewardship science and the quest for inertial fusion energy. Read more...
RELATED STORIES
Shot Puts NIF Back on Track Toward Ignition
A record high-laser-energy NIF target shot on Sept. 19 produced about 1.2 million joules of fusion energy yield, putting NIF back on track toward ignition. Read more...
Peer-Reviewed Papers Highlight Record NIF Result
The scientific results of NIF’s record 1.35 megajoule experiment have been published in three peer-reviewed papers, one in Physical Review Letters and two in Physical Review E. Read more...
Video: ‘The Threshold of Ignition’
In a video, LLNL’s Kim Budil, Jeff Wisoff, and Brad Wallin discuss how NIF’s historic 1.35 megajoule milestone is important for science and our nation’s nuclear and energy security. Read more...
Video: ‘The Beamline to Ignition’
In this video, you can follow the journey of NIF’s laser beams as they dramatically increase in energy on their way to the center of the Target Chamber. Read more...
NIF Generating Headlines Around the World
NIF’s significant step toward ignition is generating news stories around the world. You can find links to those stories on our In the News page.
Read more...
Hurricane Outlines Steps to NIF’s Fusion Milestone
In an International Atomic Energy Agency webinar, ICF Chief Scientist Omar Hurricane described the process that led to the ground-breaking NIF experiment on Aug. 8, 2021. Read more...
Science on Saturday: Harnessing Nuclear Fusion
Video: LLNL scientists Derek Mariscal and Dave Schlossberg presented a recent Science on Saturday session on “Bringing Star Power to Earth: Harnessing Nuclear Fusion.” Read more...
White House Summit Celebrates Fusion Milestones
NIF’s breakthrough experiment last August factored heavily in the discussions during a recent White House summit on fusion energy milestones and a “bold” 10-year plan for commercialization. Read more...
Prospects and Challenges for Inertial Fusion Energy
Excitement and optimism tempered by warnings against unrealistic expectations were the themes emerging from an LLNL-sponsored workshop on the potential for inertial confinement fusion energy.
Read more...
Thermonuclear Fusion in a Sheared-Flow Z-Pinch
Research led by LLNL physicists has proven the existence of neutrons produced through thermonuclear reactions from a sheared-flow stabilized Z-pinch device. Read more...
NIF Expert Helps Shape Book Imagining the Future
NIF’s Tammy Ma helped shape a chapter in a new book imagining life on Earth in the not-so-distant future when fusion-generated electricity flows from a “trapped star.” Read more...
Nature: How LLNL Achieved Burning Plasma Regime
In the Jan. 26 issue of Nature, LLNL physicists detail how a burning plasma state was achieved for the first time in a laboratory during experiments at NIF in November 2020 and February 2021. Read more...
Burning Plasma Target and Laser Designs
In a Nature Physics paper, NIF researchers describe innovative target and laser designs that led to achieving a burning plasma state during experiments in 2020 and 2021. Read more...
Fusion Milestone Creates Buzz at APS Meeting
LLNL physicist Debbie Callahan has given plenty of presentations over the years—but she didn’t expect a standing ovation at the 2021 APS Division of Plasma Physics meeting. Read more...
Physics Today’s Most Read Story: Fusion Milestone
“Lawrence Livermore Claims a Milestone in Laser Fusion” was the most read story on Physics Today’s website in 2021. Read more...
Fusion Milestone a Science Breakthrough Finalist
We’re honored that NIF’s record-setting Aug. 8 fusion experiment finished as one of the runners-up for Science magazine’s scientific breakthroughs of 2021. Read more ...
Fusion Breakthrough One of Physics World’s Top 10
NIF’s fusion shot that brought researchers to the threshold of ignition was named one of Physics World’s Top 10 scientific “Breakthroughs of 2021.” Read more...
August 18, 2021
NIF Researchers at Threshold of Fusion Ignition
An August 8, 2021 NIF experiment made a significant step toward ignition, achieving a yield of more than 1.3 megajoules (MJ). This advancement puts researchers at the threshold of fusion ignition. Read more...
