nuclear fusion

For the first time, researchers at Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) have found a way to turn a liquid metal into a plasma and to observe the temperature where a liquid under high-density conditions crosses over to a plasma state.

One of the biggest challenges to controlled nuclear fusion has been the lack of accurate models to predict increased fusion energy yields. Now a Rochester team of more than 50 scientists has used “big data” to triple fusion yields.

“All the stars, including the sun, are powered by fusion. We are here because of fusion. But fusion is really hard to create,” says E. Michael Campbell, director of the Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Hussein Aluie, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has been awarded an additional 90 million hours of computer time in 2018 by the US Department of Energy to produce detailed simulations of fluid instabilities that hinder fusion “ignition.”

Experiments have created the conditions capable of producing a fusion yield that’s five times higher than the current record laser-fusion energy yield. The new work represents an important advance in a long-standing national research initiative to develop fusion as an energy source.

The award seeks to build upon recent successes of Sandia’s Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF) concept. The concept uses a laser to heat fusion fuel contained in a small cylinder as it is compressed by the huge magnetic field of Sandia’s massive Z accelerator.

Riccardo Betti, professor of mechanical engineering and of physics and astronomy and assistant director for academic affairs at the Laborator for Laser Energetics, was named the inaugural Robert L. McCrory Professor.

Huizenga was a key figure in the 1989 national review of cold fusion claims, and part of team whose work led to two additions to the periodic table.