Deuterium-3 is most effective way of achieving ignition and operating the system, although many others are pursued. The NIF can generate 500 trillion watts on a target with an energy of two megajoules. That's millions of billions times more than what's typically obtained from a small laser. It contains 192 individual laser beams each by itself. And so it is a... Oh, wow. It's tremendous.
How did we achieve nuclear fusion? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice learn about thermonuclear fusion, the world’s most powerful lasers, and harnessing nuclear power with operations manager at The National Ignition Facility, Bruno Van Wonterghem.
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Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Energy from United States, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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