Lab Produces X-Rays Without Fusion Material
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A test at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore has shown that laser pulses shot into a gold-lined cavity called a hohlraum can produce the X-rays necessary to trigger nuclear fusion.
The experimental facility, scheduled for completion in 2009, will focus ultraviolet laser beams into the hohlraum to generate X-rays that stimulate fusion in frozen deuterium and tritium. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory team said this week that the test using no fusion materials was a crucial proof of principle for the reactor.
