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LLNL’s Breakthrough Ignition Experiment Published in PRL

Physical Review Letters (PRL) just published one of the first peer-reviewed papers detailing LLNL’s historic achievement of fusion ignition at NIF. Companion papers in PRL and Physical Review E provide further details.



Throwing Shade on Optics Damage

If the sun’s too bright, you don sunglasses to prevent glare from damaging your eyes. LLNL researchers are using this same strategy to mitigate damage to valuable optics at NIF.

The Sluggish Pace of Star Formation

To search for solutions to a puzzle of why the star formation rate is declining, an international team of researchers has turned to the unprecedented capabilities of NIF.

Supercomputer Sims of Super-Diamond

Another form of carbon has been predicted to be even tougher than diamond. The challenge, which inspires ongoing experiments at NIF, is how to create it on Earth.

Annie Kritcher: Tackling Big Challenges

Here’s the story behind how Annie Kritcher became the principal designer on the LLNL team that achieved one of science’s biggest challenges—fusion ignition.

DOE Honors Fusion Ignition Teams

The Fusion Ignition Team and a team that helped tell the world the story of that historic LLNL accomplishment at NIF were among the Lab project teams to earn Department of Energy Secretary’s Honor Awards.

More Shots, More Potential for Success

NIF stands to gain from a Laboratory Directed Research and Development project to explore ultrawide bandgap photoconductive devices.

Tracing the Steps to Fusion Ignition

The inside story of how LLNL researchers solved physics and engineering challenges to achieve target energy gain is told in a comprehensive Reviews of Modern Physics article.

Studies Aimed at Boosting NIF Yield

Recent LLNL ignition experiments indicate an upgrade to 3 MJ of laser energy at NIF could increase fusion yields in the 30 MJ range.

The Age of Ignition: Anniversary Edition

One year after LLNL achieved fusion ignition at NIF, we have expanded our special report The Age of Ignition with more stories explaining how scientific history was made.
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