A group of scientists has just approached a fusion power system that does not rely on tokamak reactors based on magnetic fields or twisted stelators. Science reports that a team from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has made a breakthrough in laser-driven fusion energy by getting much closer to “ignition” or an explosion that produces excess energy.
The researchers caused this situation with a 20-nanosecond burst of 192 laser beams aimed at a small sphere filled with the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium, found in a small cylinder of gold. The laser shot vaporizes the gold, producing X-rays that implode the capsule and create a fusion. The experiment produced 70 percent ignition, or 1.35 megajoules of 1.9 MJ from the laser. That’s very short of what it would need from a fusion power source, but eight times more powerful than what the lab had previously achieved.
The investigation unit it will take some time to further refine the process and achieve full ignition. There is also a big gap between achieving ignition and making a practical fusion power system – you would need to produce these fusion blasts at a speed close to 10 per second to collect energy from the resulting neutrons.
However, the test shows that laser-based fusion it is a much more realistic perspective than previously thought. If there is more progress, the technique could effectively produce ‘unlimited’ power that could solve power grid capacity problems while remaining clean and safe.