- #1
spurserh
- 8
- 0
Hey everyone,
I am not knowledgeable in the field of physics, so please excuse me if my question is obvious or poorly worded. I have found myself reading recently about various Nuclear Fusion research, and just now I came across an overview of fusion contained by lasers, specifically at the National Ignition Facility. There seems to be an attempt to focus and calibrate the lasers perfectly enough to contain a plasma for long enough to "burn" a meaningful amount of fuel.
My question pertains to the "problem" with containing the plasma this way as I have perceived it from reading: apparently, the calibration of the lasers so precisely is very difficult and usually the plasma does not stay contained due to some tiny imperfection. That leads me to wonder: since people are willing to build enormous facilities to run these tests, why don't we accept the imperfections by doing something to distribute them evenly around the plasma? A simple conceptual example would be a sphere of laser sources that spins around the plasma in a randomized way, such that the imperfections in the laser calibration are distributed more or less evenly around. Is it just that redirecting the lasers quickly enough would be too large of a technical challenge?
Thanks for your answers, Sean
I am not knowledgeable in the field of physics, so please excuse me if my question is obvious or poorly worded. I have found myself reading recently about various Nuclear Fusion research, and just now I came across an overview of fusion contained by lasers, specifically at the National Ignition Facility. There seems to be an attempt to focus and calibrate the lasers perfectly enough to contain a plasma for long enough to "burn" a meaningful amount of fuel.
My question pertains to the "problem" with containing the plasma this way as I have perceived it from reading: apparently, the calibration of the lasers so precisely is very difficult and usually the plasma does not stay contained due to some tiny imperfection. That leads me to wonder: since people are willing to build enormous facilities to run these tests, why don't we accept the imperfections by doing something to distribute them evenly around the plasma? A simple conceptual example would be a sphere of laser sources that spins around the plasma in a randomized way, such that the imperfections in the laser calibration are distributed more or less evenly around. Is it just that redirecting the lasers quickly enough would be too large of a technical challenge?
Thanks for your answers, Sean