A Burning Desire for Fusion

Summer 2004

The sun and the stars burn hot in the cold, infinite depths of space because of nuclear fusion, where hydrogen atoms combine to form heavier elements with the release of energy. If mankind could harness this fusion process, we would have nearly unlimited fuel with little or no pollution.

Although fusion has been achieved in the hydrogen bomb, researchers have been looking for over 50 years to tame it for electrical power. Taking up the daunting challenge, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is embarked on a program to reach this goal by using a new technology.

With SAIC's help, the NRL is spearheading a promising approach to fusion where beams from the world's largest krypton-fluoride (KrF) laser compress and heat a pellet containing deuterium and tritium "fuel" that burns to form helium and energy in a thermonuclear reaction. The pellet explosions are analogous to a miniature hydrogen bomb but with energies small enough to be contained by a chamber. (This work is sponsored by DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration for defense.) Many of these pellets would be injected into a chamber and the energy captured by the chamber walls would produce electricity.

"We believe that this approach to fusion using KrF lasers could reduce the cost and risk involved in developing fusion energy," according to Steve Obenschain, head of NRL's laser fusion program. NRL is the world leader in development of the needed KrF laser technology and also is part of an international scientific effort to develop the needed science and technology underpinnings for laser fusion.

Not only did we help build the laser, called Nike (after the goddess of victory), we are supporting the Nike program in many ways. For example, we are developing diagnostics to measure the spectral, temporal, and focal profiles of Nike's laser beams. In addition, we are analyzing atomic physics calculations for laser plasma interactions.

We also provide support for the Nike and Electra (another NRL laser) facilities. This includes developing and upgrading the Nike and Electra control systems and developing an advanced cluster computer for plasma hydrodynamic simulations.

"There have been pretty good results obtained here… X-ray diagnostics and imaging diagnostics look at the most intimate things going on in the capsule [the cryogenically cooled pellet]," said Yefim Aglitskiy, senior research scientist at SAIC. He explained that SAIC scientists are also simulating the effects of illuminating the pellet from all sides - a necessary step for fusion - by illuminating one side of the pellet. (At present, it is not possible to illuminate all sides with Nike.)

"There is very interesting physics going on. Technologically, it is a stepping stone for future energy applications," said Aglitskiy.

In addition, the Nike facility may enable high-level military experiments. For example, the Nike laser - due to its uniform illumination - could produce a large-area uniform shock for nuclear weapons analysis. The laser could also produce several high-energy X-rays for weapons effects testing.

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