An artist's 3-D rendition of laser beams depositing energy to heat up a
fusion capsule at the proposed National Ignition Facility. (Courtesy Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
Slated to be located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
in California, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a proposed US research center
where scientists would study nuclear fusion and other processes involving
extremely dense plasmas (collections of electrically charged particles). Expected to be funded and completed by the early part
of next decade, NIF will use high-powered lasers to achieve, among other things,
inertial confinement fusion, in which a deuterium-tritium fuel pellet is compressed to
extremely high densities. In experiments aiming to achieve self-sustaining nuclear fusion
reactions, the densities are expected to reach up to 1000 grams per cubic centimeter,
over 6 times the density of the center of the Sun.
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Below: Cutaway view of the NIF target area. The laser beams focus energy onto a target
located at the center of the target chamber. (Courtesy Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
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