Creating conditions for fusion on Earth involves generating and sustaining a plasma. Plasmas are gases that are so hot that electrons are freed from atomic nuclei.
Highly reflective mirrors and telescope lenses in the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) optical laser system are carefully positioned to propagate the instrument’s high-quality laser beams. The laser beams create extreme pressure and temperature conditions in materials that are instantaneously probed using hard X-rays from SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS).
(Dawn Harmer/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
Tripling the energy and refining the shape of optical laser pulses at LCLS’s Matter in Extreme Conditions instrument allows researchers to recreate higher-pressure conditions...
The 2010 experiment marked a significant step forward in understanding extreme states of matter at the hearts of stars, planets and nuclear fusion reactions.
In a first, researchers measure extremely small and fast changes that occur in plasma when it’s zapped with a laser. Their technique will have applications in astrophysics, medicine and fusion energy.
Tripling the energy and refining the shape of optical laser pulses at LCLS’s Matter in Extreme Conditions instrument allows researchers to recreate higher-pressure conditions and explore unsolved questions relevant to fusion energy, plasma physics and materials science.
The 2010 experiment marked a significant step forward in understanding extreme states of matter at the hearts of stars, planets and nuclear fusion reactions.
Presented by Siegfried Glenzer. Normally we think of hydrogen as a gas. But elsewhere in the universe, hydrogen under extreme pressure can exist in more exotic states. In the center of Jupiter, hydrogen becomes liquid or even solid. In the...