Publications by authors named "B Welday"
Achievement of Target Gain Larger than Unity in an Inertial Fusion Experiment.
Phys Rev Lett
February 2024
Article Synopsis
- * This experiment produced 2.05 MJ of laser energy, resulting in 3.1 MJ of total fusion yield, which exceeds the Lawson criterion for ignition, demonstrating a key milestone in fusion research.
- * The report details the advancements in target design, laser technology, and experimental methods that contributed to this historic achievement, validating over five decades of research in laboratory fusion.
Article Synopsis
- * In inertially confined fusion, ignition allows the fusion process to spread into surrounding fuel, potentially leading to higher energy output.
- * Recent experiments at the National Ignition Facility achieved capsule gains of 5.8 and approached ignition, even though "scientific breakeven" has not yet been fully realized.
High energy laser systems are ultimately limited by laser-induced damage to their critical components. This is especially true of damage to critical fused silica optics, which grows rapidly upon exposure to additional laser pulses. Much progress has been made in eliminating damage precursors in as-processed fused silica optics (the advanced mitigation process, AMP3), and very high damage resistance has been demonstrated in laboratory studies.
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