The National Ignition Facility
"Creating a miniature star on Earth" is the goal of the National Ignition Facility (NIF),
home to the world's largest and highest-energy laser in Livermore, California. On September 29th,
2010, the NIF completed its first integrated ignition experiment, where it focused its 192 lasers
on a small cylinder housing a tiny frozen capsule containing hydrogen fuel, briefly bombarding it
with 1 megajoule of laser energy. The experiment was the latest in a series of tests leading to
a hoped-for "ignition", where the nuclei of the atoms of the fuel inside the target capsule are
made to fuse together releasing tremendous energy - potentially more energy than was put in to start
the initial reaction, becoming a valuable power source. The NIF has cost over $3.5 billion since
1997 and is a part of the federally funded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Scientists at
NIF say they hope to achieve fusion by 2012.
home to the world's largest and highest-energy laser in Livermore, California. On September 29th,
2010, the NIF completed its first integrated ignition experiment, where it focused its 192 lasers
on a small cylinder housing a tiny frozen capsule containing hydrogen fuel, briefly bombarding it
with 1 megajoule of laser energy. The experiment was the latest in a series of tests leading to
a hoped-for "ignition", where the nuclei of the atoms of the fuel inside the target capsule are
made to fuse together releasing tremendous energy - potentially more energy than was put in to start
the initial reaction, becoming a valuable power source. The NIF has cost over $3.5 billion since
1997 and is a part of the federally funded Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Scientists at
NIF say they hope to achieve fusion by 2012.
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