ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
January 2026
Latest News
Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
K. A. Moreno, H. W. Xu, A. Nikroo, H. Huang, J. Fong, J. E. Knipping, J. L. Kaae, E. M. Giraldez
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 51 | Number 4 | May 2007 | Pages 581-585
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1448
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Rayleigh-Taylor experiments have been designed for the OMEGA laser facility at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) of the University of Rochester to explore perturbations during implosion of this ablator. For the experiment to be relevant, the beryllium copper flat used as the target must be similar in chemical makeup and morphology to the NIF ignition target. To visualize the perturbation growth, the flats were fabricated with sinusoidal perturbations on one side of a wavelength of 50 m and amplitude of 0.25 m. The flats were doped with more copper than required in the NIF ablator specification to increase the x-ray optical depth during burn through. These flats were successfully fabricated using a mold technique. This technique, as well as the characterization techniques used to verify the chemical makeup and thicknesses, will be described in this paper.