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Keyword：National Ignition Facility
U.S. Research Reveals Diamond Melting Mechanism at High Pressure, Potentially Enhancing Inertial Confinement Fusion Performance
A research team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the U.S. recently published a study in Nature Physics reporting that the latest dynamic compression experiments have, for the first time, directly recorded atomic structural changes during diamond melting under extreme high pressure. The experiments showed that under high-pressure conditions, solid diamond can float in liquid metallic carbon, similar to ice floating on water. Diamond is not only a high-hardness carbon material but is also used as the fuel target capsule shell in inertial confinement fusion experiments. When intense lasers drive the capsule implosion, the compression and melting behavior of the diamond shell can affect whether the fusion fuel reaches the required high-temperature, high-pressure state. Meanwhile, the planetary science community has long focused on the high-pressure behavior of carbon in the deep interiors of ice giant planets...
2026-08-26
US Study Shows Inertial Fusion Implosions Can Tolerate Certain Asymmetries
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the US have recently found that implosion designs for inertial fusion energy (IFE) can withstand considerable imperfections before performance degrades sharply. This result aids in the design of fuel targets for future fusion power plants, particularly in assessing the tolerance of target capsules to errors under high-frequency injection and laser-driven conditions. The study's simulation results show the density (top) and temperature (bottom) at the instant just before fusion reactions peak in an asymmetric implosion. The hottest spot coincides with the point of highest fuel density, indicating direct ignition of high-density fuel jets driven by asymmetry. The image was recently selected for the cover of Physics of Plasmas...
2026-08-25
US Inertia Fusion Fuel Preparation Time Significantly Reduced
US fusion startup Inertia Enterprises said it has made progress in inertial fusion energy fuel preparation in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), reducing the time required for the critical step of forming a cryogenic deuterium-tritium fuel layer from potentially several days in the past to tens of minutes. The company said this achievement completes a key task in the first phase of its commercial fusion power plant development goals. The fundamental approach of inertial fusion energy involves using high-energy lasers to compress and heat small targets containing deuterium-tritium fuel, bringing the fuel to ignition conditions and releasing energy. The National Ignition Facility (NIF) has already...
2026-08-21