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Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a fusion energy process that initiates nuclear fusion reactions by compressing and heating targets filled with fuel. The targets are small pellets, typically containing deuterium (2H) and tritium (3H).
Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy. Devices designed to harness this energy are known as fusion reactors. Research into fusion reactors began in the 1940s, but as of 2024, no device has reached net power, although net positive reactions have been achieved.
This timeline of nuclear fusion is an incomplete chronological summary of significant events in the study and use of nuclear fusion.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) is a laser-based inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research device, located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, United States. NIF's mission is to achieve fusion ignition with high energy gain. It achieved the first instance of scientific breakeven controlled fusion in an experiment on December 5, 2022, with an energy gain factor of 1.5. It supports nuclear weapon maintenance and design by studying the behavior of matter under the conditions found within nuclear explosions.
David Herbert Munro is a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) who created the programming language Yorick as well as the scientific graphics library Gist.
John Myrick Dawson was an American computational physicist and the father of plasma-based acceleration techniques. Dawson earned his degrees in physics from the University of Maryland, College Park: a B.S. in 1952 and Ph.D. in 1957. His thesis "Distortion of Atoms and Molecules in Dense Media" was prepared under the guidance of Zaka Slawsky.
Richard Freeman Post was an American physicist notable for his work in nuclear fusion, plasma physics, magnetic mirrors, magnetic levitation, magnetic bearing design and direct energy conversion.
Francis F. Chen is a Chinese-born American plasma physicist.
LASNEX is a computer program that simulates the interactions between x-rays and a plasma, along with many effects associated with these interactions. The program is used to predict the performance of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) devices such as the Nova laser or proposed particle beam "drivers". Versions of LASNEX have been used since the late 1960s or early 1970s, and the program has been constantly updated. LASNEX's existence was mentioned in John Nuckolls' seminal paper in Nature in 1972 that first widely introduced the ICF concept, saying it was "...like breaking an enemy code. It tells you how many divisions to bring to bear on a problem."
Omar Hurricane is a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in the thermonuclear and inertial confinement fusion design division. Hurricane completed his Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) under the supervision of Professor René Pellat in 1994. He remained at UCLA as a postdoc under adviser Steven Cowley, studying the kink and nonlinear ballooning mode instability in high-beta plasmas until joining LLNL in 1998 as a designer in A-Division.
The Edward Teller Award is an award presented every two years by the American Nuclear Society for "pioneering research and leadership in the use of laser and ion-particle beams to produce unique high-temperature and high-density matter for scientific research and for controlled thermonuclear fusion". It was established in 1999 and is named after Edward Teller. The award carries a $2000 cash prize and an engraved silver medal.
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Ryutov is a Russian theoretical plasma physicist.
John D. Lindl is an American physicist who specializes in inertial confinement fusion (ICF). He is currently the chief scientist of the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Jürgen Meyer-ter-Vehn is a German theoretical physicist who specializes in laser-plasma interactions at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics. He published under the name Meyer until 1973.
Patrick Mora is a French theoretical plasma physicist who specializes in laser-plasma interactions. He was awarded the 2014 Hannes Alfvén Prize and 2019 Edward Teller Award for his contributions to the field of laser-plasma physics.
The history of nuclear fusion began early in the 20th century as an inquiry into how stars powered themselves and expanded to incorporate a broad inquiry into the nature of matter and energy, as potential applications expanded to include warfare, energy production and rocket propulsion.
Christine Garban-Labaune is a French plasma physicist known for her research in inertial confinement fusion.
Tammy Ma is an American plasma physicist who works on inertial confinement fusion at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Sharon Gail Glendinning is an American experimental physicist.
Andrea Lynn "Annie" Kritcher is an American nuclear engineer and physicist who works at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She was responsible for the development of Hybrid-E, a capsule that enables inertial confinement fusion. She was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2022.
References
- ↑ "Denise Hinkel - The Mathematics Genealogy Project". www.mathgenealogy.org.
- ↑ Hinkel-Lipsker, Denise Elizabeth (January 1, 1990). "Resonant Absorption in AN Inhomogeneous, Unmagnetized Plasma". Bibcode:1990PhDT.......123H – via NASA ADS.
- ↑ "APS Fellow Archive". www.aps.org.
- ↑ Nolan O’Brien (23 December 2019). "LLNL Physicist Elected to Lead APS Division of Plasma Physics". lasers.llnl.gov.
- ↑ "Simulations of laser-plasma interactions in targets for the National Ignition Facility and beyond | Argonne Leadership Computing Facility". www.alcf.anl.gov. Argonne National Laboratory.
- ↑ Mann, Adam (13 Feb 2014). "We're one step closer to nuclear fusion energy". Wired– via www.wired.co.uk.
