Progress in inertial confinement fusion at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

The goals of the Inertial Fusion Program at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are to study matter under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure and to produce fusion energy from inertially confined fusion fuel. With the conclusion of recent multi-kilojoule 0.53 μm experiments on Novette, we have demonstrated vastly improved plasma conditions compared to those previously obtained at LLNL with similar energies at 1.06 μm and elsewhere with 10 μm radiation. The lower preheat environment obtainable with short wavelength light has led to 3X improvements in the compression of targets on Novette compared to similar targets on Shiva with 1.06 μm. Subsequent experiments on Nova with short wavelength light will begin in 1985. They are expected to demonstrate the necessary compression conditions required for high gain fusion to occur when irradiated with a multi-megajoule driver. These recent results, together with improved calculations, and innovations in driver and reactor technology, indicate that high gain inertial fusion will occur and is a viable candidate for fusion power production in the future