Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is the worlds most powerful laser (also the world's second most powerful laser), it's used for research into fusion physics, able to create tiny nuclear explosions and observe the results in minute detail.
Three years ago it achieved a landmark in inertial confinement fusion, whereby the energy output exceeded the input, and since then they've not just repeated the result but increased the output to more than 10 Megajoules.

Thanks to Patrick Poole for leading this tour and answering my many questions
lasers.llnl.gov

The paper I was given
"First demonstration of improved yield with reduced adiabat in inertial confinement fusion implosions on the National Ignition Facility"
pubs.aip.org/aip/pop/article/32/12/122701/3373618/First-demonstration-of-improved-yield-with-reduced

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