How Do These Lasers Really Do Fusion?

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The tiny fuel pellet is about the size of a peppercorn, and they zap it with these extremely powerful lasers. What you're trying to do is take a fuel capsule that started about two millimeters in diameter and squeeze it down to about half the diameter of a human hair. These are also very tiny particles like imagine trying to aim two billiard balls at each other, but they're sub microscopic.

Back in January, we spoke to a scientist at the National Ignition Facility about how close they were to achieving what’s been called “one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century.” This week, they announced they’ve finally done it.

A version of this episode originally ran on January 5, 2022.

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