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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.
R. B. Stephens, D. Olson, H. Huang, J. B. Gibson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 2 | March 2004 | Pages 210-213
Technical Paper | Target Fabrication | doi.org/10.13182/FST45-210
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Inertial confinement fusion shells have previously been evaluated on the basis of microscopic examination for local defects and limited surface profiling to represent their average fluctuation power. Since defects are local, and don't always have visible edges, this approach both misses some important fluctuations and doesn't properly represent the spatially dependent surface fluctuation power. We have taken the first step toward correcting this problem by demonstrating the capability to completely map the surface of a NIF shell with the resolution to account for all modes. This allows complete accounting of all the surface fluctuations. In the future this capability could be used for valuable shells to generate a complete r(, ) surface map for accurate 3-D modeling of a shot.