Thread: Laser Fusion

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8485669.stm

A major hurdle to producing fusion energy using lasers has been swept aside, results in a new report show.

The controlled fusion of atoms - creating conditions like those in our Sun - has long been touted as a possible revolutionary energy source.

However, there have been doubts about the use of powerful lasers for fusion energy because the "plasma" they create could interrupt the fusion.

An article in Science showed the plasma is far less of a problem than expected.

The report is based on the first experiments from the National Ignition Facility (Nif) in the US that used all 192 of its laser beams.

Along the way, the experiments smashed the record for the highest energy from a laser - by a factor of 20.

Read the whole thing and while some of it didn't make sense, overall it sounds incredibly awesome. Apparently its a pretty big step in the field right now.

This is fucking awesome. We may be on the verge of producing more energy than it takes to make it, which means a big change in the way energy is produced in the future...

Hello Star Trek (Roddenberry version) future!

So how long until someone adapts this and we get plasma rifles?

I swear to god red lizard, get the fuck off the god damn BBC before I kill you! :2