Nature

, volume 601 , issue 7894 , pages 542-548

Burning plasma achieved in inertial fusion

A. Zylstra ¹

O. A. Hurricane ¹

D. A. Callahan ¹

A. L. Kritcher ¹

J.E. Ralph ¹

H.F. Robey ²

J S Ross ¹

C. V. Young ¹

K. L. Baker ¹

D. E. Casey ¹

T. Döppner ¹

L. Divol ¹

M. Hohenberger ¹

S. Le Pape ³

A. Pak ¹

P. K. Patel ¹

R Tommasini ¹

Suzanne Ali ¹

P A Amendt ¹

L.J. Atherton ¹

B. Bachmann ¹

D. Bailey ¹

L.R. Benedetti ¹

L. Berzak Hopkins ¹

R. Betti ⁴

S.D. Bhandarkar ¹

Juergen Biener ¹

R. M. Bionta ¹

N W Birge ²

E J BOND ¹

D.K. Bradley ¹

Tom Braun ¹

T M Briggs ¹

M W Bruhn ¹

P. M. Celliers ¹

B. Chang ¹

T. Chapman ¹

Hui Chen ¹

C. Choate ¹

A. R. Christopherson ¹

D. S. Clark ¹

J W Crippen ⁵

E. L. Dewald ¹

T. R. Dittrich ¹

M. J. Edwards ¹

W. Farmer ¹

J. E. Field ¹

D. Fittinghoff ¹

J Frenje ⁶

Jim A. Gaffney ¹

Maria Antony Johnson ⁶

S. H. Glenzer ⁷

G. P. Grim ¹

S. Haan ¹

K.D. Hahn ¹

G.N. Hall ¹

B.A. Hammel ¹

J Harte ¹

E. Hartouni ¹

J E Heebner ¹

V.J. Hernandez ¹

Hartmut Herrman ²

M. C. Herrmann ¹

D. E. Hinkel ¹

D. D. Ho ¹

J P Holder ¹

W W Hsing ¹

H. Huang ⁵

K D Humbird ¹

N Izumi ¹

L C Jarrott ¹

J. Jeet ¹

O Jones ¹

G.D. Kerbel ¹

S. Kerr ¹

S F Khan ¹

J. Kilkenny ⁵

Y. Kim ²

H Geppert Kleinrath ²

V. Geppert-Kleinrath ²

C. Kong ⁵

Joe Koning ¹

J.J. Kroll ¹

M. K. G. KRUSE ¹

B. Kustowski ¹

O. L. Landen ¹

S. Langer ¹

D. Larson ¹

N C Lemos ¹

J.D. Lindl ¹

T. Ma ¹

Michael J. MacDonald ¹

B. J. MacGowan ¹

A.J. Mackinnon ¹

S A Maclaren ¹

A.G. MacPhee ¹

M. M. Marinak ¹

D. A. Mariscal ¹

E V Marley ¹

L. Massé ¹

K. Meaney ²

N. Meezan ¹

P. A. Michel ¹

Marius Millot ¹

J.L. Milovich ¹

J. D. MOODY ¹

A. S. Moore ¹

J.W. Morton ⁸

Thomas Murphy ²

K. Newman ¹

J.-M. G. Di Nicola ¹

A. Nikroo ¹

R Nora ¹

M.V. Patel ¹

L J Pelz ¹

John W. Peterson ¹

Y. Ping ¹

B. B. Pollock ¹

M Ratledge ⁵

N. G. Rice ⁵

H. Rinderknecht ⁴

M. ROSEN ¹

M.S. Rubery ⁸

J.D. Salmonson ¹

J. Sater ¹

S Schiaffino ¹

D. Schlossberg ¹

M. B. Schneider ¹

C. R. Schroeder ¹

H. A. Scott ¹

S.M. Sepke ¹

K. Sequoia ⁵

M W Sherlock ¹

S Shin ¹

V.A. Smalyuk ¹

Brian K. Spears ¹

P.T. Springer ¹

M. Stadermann ¹

S. Stoupin ¹

D. J. Strozzi ¹

L.J. Suter ¹

C. A. Thomas ⁴

R.P.J. Town ¹

E R Tubman ¹

C Trosseille ¹

Petr L. Volegov ²

C. R. Weber ¹

K. Widmann ¹

C. Wild ⁹

C.H. Wilde ²

B. M. Van Wonterghem ¹

D. T. Woods ¹

B N Woodworth ¹

M. Yamaguchi ⁵

S. T. Yang ¹

G. B. Zimmerman ¹

Hide authors affiliations Show authors affiliations: 9 affiliations

Lawrence Livermore national Laboratory, Livermore, USA |

Los alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, USA |

Laboratoire pour l’utilisation des Lasers Intenses chez École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France |

⁴

Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, USA |

⁵

General Atomics, San Diego, USA |

⁶

Massachusetts Institute of technology, Cambridge, USA |

⁷

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, USA |

⁸

Atomic Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston, UK |

⁹

Diamond Materials, Freiburg, Germany |

Publication type: Journal Article

Publication date: 2022-01-26

Springer Nature

Nature

scimago Q1

wos Q1

SJR: 18.288

CiteScore: 78.1

Impact factor: 48.5

ISSN: 00280836, 14764687

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04281-w

Copy DOI

PubMed ID: 35082418

Multidisciplinary

Abstract

Obtaining a burning plasma is a critical step towards self-sustaining fusion energy¹. A burning plasma is one in which the fusion reactions themselves are the primary source of heating in the plasma, which is necessary to sustain and propagate the burn, enabling high energy gain. After decades of fusion research, here we achieve a burning-plasma state in the laboratory. These experiments were conducted at the US National Ignition Facility, a laser facility delivering up to 1.9 megajoules of energy in pulses with peak powers up to 500 terawatts. We use the lasers to generate X-rays in a radiation cavity to indirectly drive a fuel-containing capsule via the X-ray ablation pressure, which results in the implosion process compressing and heating the fuel via mechanical work. The burning-plasma state was created using a strategy to increase the spatial scale of the capsule^2,3 through two different implosion concepts^4–7. These experiments show fusion self-heating in excess of the mechanical work injected into the implosions, satisfying several burning-plasma metrics^3,8. Additionally, we describe a subset of experiments that appear to have crossed the static self-heating boundary, where fusion heating surpasses the energy losses from radiation and conduction. These results provide an opportunity to study α-particle-dominated plasmas and burning-plasma physics in the laboratory.

Found

1 citation

Romanelli Francesco

73 publications, 1 285 citations

h-index: 19

1 citation

Karmiol Zachary

PhD in Engineering

17 publications, 235 citations

h-index: 7

University of Nevada, Reno

Research interests

Electrochemical energy storage

Microscopy

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Zylstra A. et al. Burning plasma achieved in inertial fusion // Nature. 2022. Vol. 601. No. 7894. pp. 542-548.

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Zylstra A. et al. Burning plasma achieved in inertial fusion // Nature. 2022. Vol. 601. No. 7894. pp. 542-548.

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@article{2022_Zylstra,

author = {A. Zylstra and O. A. Hurricane and D. A. Callahan and A. L. Kritcher and J.E. Ralph and H.F. Robey and J S Ross and C. V. Young and K. L. Baker and D. E. Casey and T. Döppner and L. Divol and M. Hohenberger and S. Le Pape and A. Pak and P. K. Patel and R Tommasini and Suzanne Ali and P A Amendt and L.J. Atherton and B. Bachmann and D. Bailey and L.R. Benedetti and L. Berzak Hopkins and R. Betti and S.D. Bhandarkar and Juergen Biener and R. M. Bionta and N W Birge and E J BOND and D.K. Bradley and Tom Braun and T M Briggs and M W Bruhn and P. M. Celliers and B. Chang and T. Chapman and Hui Chen and C. Choate and A. R. Christopherson and D. S. Clark and J W Crippen and E. L. Dewald and T. R. Dittrich and M. J. Edwards and W. Farmer and J. E. Field and D. Fittinghoff and J Frenje and Jim A. Gaffney and others},

title = {Burning plasma achieved in inertial fusion},

journal = {Nature},

year = {2022},

volume = {601},

publisher = {Springer Nature},

month = {jan},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04281-w},

number = {7894},

pages = {542--548},

doi = {10.1038/s41586-021-04281-w}

}

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Zylstra, A., et al. “Burning plasma achieved in inertial fusion.” Nature, vol. 601, no. 7894, Jan. 2022, pp. 542-548. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04281-w.

Publisher

Springer Nature

Journal

Nature

scimago Q1

wos Q1

SJR

18.288

CiteScore

78.1

Impact factor

48.5

ISSN

00280836 (Print)

14764687 (Electronic)

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