Inertial Fusion Technologies

Inertial Fusion Technologies (IFT) uses powerful energy beams, such as lasers, to compress and heat the hydrogen fuel to fusion temperatures, and uses the inertia of the fuel itself to confine it long enough for fusion to occur.

The Inertial Fusion Technology Concept^[1]

Laser energy Blowoff Inward transported thermal energy
1) Atmosphere formation: Laser beams rapidly heat the surface of the fusion target forming a surrounding plasma envelope.	2) Compression: Fuel is compressed by the rocket-like blowoff of the hot surface material.	3) Ignition: During the final part of the laser pulse, the fuel core reaches 20 times the density of lead and ignites at 100,000,000 degrees Celsius.	4) Burn: Thermonuclear burn spreads rapidly through the compressed fuel, yielding many times the input energy.

Inertial Fusion Technologies is supported by the US Department of Energy Office of Secondaries and Inertial Fusion as a part of the US DOE "science-basedstockpile stewardship" program. The temperatures and pressures that must be achieved for inertial fusion -- 100 million ° C and densities 1000 times normal solid densities -- are similar to those produced in a nuclear weapon. It is the primary mission of the IFT program to provide these conditions so that the research on nuclear weapons necessary for the maintenence of the US nuclear defense arsenal can be carried out without the need for actual nuclear testing. The long-term goal of the IFT program is fusion energy for electric power and other energy applications.

1. ^ Pictures courtesy of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

• Mission
• GA's Role in IFT

• Inertial Fusion Technologies Site