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Fusion Concepts Controlled Fusion Methods Modern Research Efforts
Conceptual Overview Inertial Confinement Reactors Inertial Confinement Research
Conditions for Fusion Magnetic Confinement Reactors Tokamak and Stellerator Research

Guiding Principles

Inertial Ccnfinement fusion is a field of fusion research that aims to achieve nuclear fusion without confining plasmas at high temperatures. Instead, fusion is achieved by bombarding the surface of a target, which usually takes the form of a multi-layered Deutirium-Tritium containing capsule, with high energy lasers or ion beams. This is intended to heat the outer surface of the fuel-containing cell. The added energy causes the capsule's outer layer to explode outward. The layer's outward expansion produces a compression front or implosion that compresses and heats the inner layer of the target. The compound effects of the capsule's implosions and compressions force the fuel to a thousand times it's liquid density and drive its temperature toward the ignition point for fusion. If this process is accomplished within a short enough time interval, one typically far less than a microsecond, the reaction is confined by the inertia of it's own particles.

Laser and Ion Beam Fusion

The inertial confinement method that has made the most recent successes, such as the record breakeven at the National Ignition Facility, uses a laser assembly to energize a target. The laser assemblies involved in this process demand massive amounts of power and are capable of extremely high pulses of energy. An alternate method of inertial confinement involves shooting a high energy beam of electrons or other particles at a fuel-containing pellet to achieve nuclear fusion in much the same way a Hydrogen bomb would. Interestingly, much of inertial confinement fusion serves purely to collect data and does not show as much promise as magnetic confinement fusion techniques for energy production. However, data from inertial confinement fusion is used for research into high-density physics, fusion, and, interestingly enough, nuclear weapon optimization.