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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.
Y. T. Lee, A. Q. L. Nguyen, H. Huang, K. A. Moreno, K. C. Chen, C. Chen, M. A. Johnson, J. D. Hughes, R. C. Montesanti, D. W. Phillion
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 4 | May 2009 | Pages 405-410
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-28
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A phase-shifting diffraction interferometer provides full surface mapping of National Ignition Facility (NIF) ablator capsules for surface finish and isolated defects. To integrate this new instrument into the NIF metrology work flow, the measurement must be both quick and accurate. In this work, we developed automated processing algorithms to streamline a large number of manual steps. This enables the process time to be reduced from 1½ days to 2 h per shell, thus meeting the NIF throughput requirement of 20 capsules/week. We also developed methods to quantitatively report the isolated defects and surface roughness in formats that can be benchmarked against the NIF specifications.