Tokamak
 

better watch out -- the lasers are gaining on you!

Best geek thread EVER.

Homopolar generators unite against laser hegemony!

I hope I live to see the day when we figure this out..

How are they going to contain the reaction if they get it to sustain itself after the laser burst? Aren't they gonna need a magnetic donut too?

Very cool stuff.

From the link. Dr Hurricane unleashes FUSION at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

"The two notable parts that we report on are getting more fusion energy out of the fusion fuel than was deposited into the fusion fuel, and the other component of that is seeing this non-linear feedback process that we call bootstrapping where the alpha particles that come out of the helium reaction start leaving a significant amount of their energy behind causing the reaction to accelerate and amplify the output – it's nearly a doubling of the output due to the alpha particles," researcher Omar Hurricane tells El Reg. "They are important scientific steps on the way to pushing the fusion further."

more data please...

Uh, they're about to unleash more energy that it takes to fuse. But that doesn't mean it is in a usable form. High-speed neutrons are hard to turn into useable energy.

if it gives off heat or light its useful, otherwise...

The NIF is an awesome facility. On a similar subject, my manager is at CERN this week as they are talking about building an accelerator ring that is 100 km in circumference. 100 KM!!!

I'll be in Japan next week at their Proton Accelerator Reseach Complex (J-PARC). Lots of interesting stuff going on these days...

it has been only 20 years away
for the last 40 years

In 1983 or 84 I was working on a compressor at Lawrence Livermore Lab.
I walked into one building looking for a restroom and asked one of the white-coats, whazat?

Him: Fusion generator.

Me: For real? Does it work?

Him: Naw, it's just a mock up for one they want to put in orbit someday.