One giant leap for Laser Fusion

HB11 Energy is excited by the results of an experiment, announced on 17 August 2021, showing what appears to be the first measured, controlled ignition of a fusion burn via laser (as opposed to complex magnetic fields). We congratulate the scientists and engineers at California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) National Ignition Facility (NIF). In the experiment, laser beams targeting a capsule of hydrogen isotopes sparked a fusion explosion that produced 1.35 megajoules (MJ) of energy. That result came tantalizingly close to achieving ‘ignition’, as defined as fusion energy generated in the… Read More