List of fusion experiments
Encyclopedia
Fusion power
Fusion power is the power generated by nuclear fusion processes. In fusion reactions two light atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus . In doing so they release a comparatively large amount of energy arising from the binding energy due to the strong nuclear force which is manifested...
are invariably done with dedicated machines which can be classified according to the principles they use to confine the plasma fuel and keep it hot.
The major division is between magnetic confinement and inertial confinement
Inertial confinement fusion
Inertial confinement fusion is a process where nuclear fusion reactions are initiated by heating and compressing a fuel target, typically in the form of a pellet that most often contains a mixture of deuterium and tritium....
. In magnetic confinement, the tendency of the hot plasma to expand is counteracted by the Lorenz force between currents in the plasma and magnetic fields produced by external coils. The particle densities tend to be in the range of 1018 to 1022 m−3 and the linear dimensions in the range of 0.1 to 10 m. The particle and energy confinement times may range from under a millisecond to over a second, but the configuration itself is often maintained through input of particles, energy, and current for times that are hundreds or thousands of times longer. Some concepts are capable of maintaining a plasma indefinitely.
In contrast, with inertial confinement, there is nothing to counteract the expansion of the plasma. The confinement time is simply the time it takes the plasma pressure to overcome the inertia
Inertia
Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion. It is proportional to an object's mass. The principle of inertia is one of the fundamental principles of classical physics which are used to...
of the particles, hence the name. The densities tend to be in the range of 1031 to 1033 m−3 and the plasma radius in the range of 1 to 100 micrometers. These conditions are obtained by irradiating
Irradiation
Irradiation is the process by which an object is exposed to radiation. The exposure can originate from various sources, including natural sources. Most frequently the term refers to ionizing radiation, and to a level of radiation that will serve a specific purpose, rather than radiation exposure to...
a millimeter-sized solid pellet with a nanosecond laser or ion pulse. The outer layer of the pellet is ablated
Ablation
Ablation is removal of material from the surface of an object by vaporization, chipping, or other erosive processes. This occurs in spaceflight during ascent and atmospheric reentry, glaciology, medicine, and passive fire protection.-Spaceflight:...
, providing a reaction force that compresses the central 10% of the fuel by a factor of 10 or 20 to 103 or 104 times solid density. These microplasmas disperse in a time measured in nanoseconds. For a reactor
Fusion power
Fusion power is the power generated by nuclear fusion processes. In fusion reactions two light atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus . In doing so they release a comparatively large amount of energy arising from the binding energy due to the strong nuclear force which is manifested...
, a repetition rate of several per second will be needed.
Magnetic confinement
Within the field of magnetic confinement experiments, there is a basic division between toroidalTorus
In geometry, a torus is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three dimensional space about an axis coplanar with the circle...
and open magnetic field topologies
Topology
Topology is a major area of mathematics concerned with properties that are preserved under continuous deformations of objects, such as deformations that involve stretching, but no tearing or gluing...
. Generally speaking, it is easier to contain a plasma in the direction perpendicular to the field than parallel to it. Parallel confinement can be solved either by bending the field lines back on themselves into circles or, more commonly, toroidal surfaces, or by constricting the bundle of field lines at both ends, which causes some of the particles to be reflected by the mirror effect
Magnetic mirror
A magnetic mirror is a magnetic field configuration where the field strength changes when moving along a field line. The mirror effect results in a tendency for charged particles to bounce back from the high field region....
. The toroidal geometries can be further subdivided according to whether the machine itself has a toroidal geometry, i.e., a solid core through the center of the plasma. The alternative is to dispense with a solid core and rely on currents in the plasma to produce the toroidal field.
Mirror machines have advantages in a simpler geometry and a better potential for direct conversion of particle energy to electricity. They generally require higher magnetic fields than toroidal machines, but the biggest problem has turned out to be confinement. For good confinement there must be more particles moving perpendicular to the field than there are moving parallel to the field. Such a non-Maxwellian velocity distribution is, however, very difficult to maintain and energetically costly.
The mirrors' advantage of simple machine geometry is maintained in machines which produce compact toroids, but there are potential disadvantages for stability in not having a central conductor and there is generally less possibility to control (and thereby optimize) the magnetic geometry. Compact toroid concepts are generally less well developed than those of toroidal machines. While this does not necessarily mean that they cannot work better than mainstream concepts, the uncertainty involved is much greater.
Somewhat in a class by itself is the Z-pinch
Z-pinch
In fusion power research, the Z-pinch, also known as zeta pinch or Bennett pinch , is a type of plasma confinement system that uses an electrical current in the plasma to generate a magnetic field that compresses it...
, which has circular field lines. This was one of the first concepts tried, but it did not prove very successful. Furthermore, there was never a convincing concept for turning the pulsed machine requiring electrodes into a practical reactor.
The dense plasma focus is a controversial and "non-mainstream" device that relies on currents in the plasma to produce a toroid. It is a pulsed device that depends on a plasma that is not in equilibrium and has the potential for direct conversion of particle energy to electricity. Experiments are ongoing to test relatively new theories to determine if the device has a future.
Toroidal machine
Toroidal machines can be axially symmetric, like the tokamak and the RFP, or asymmetric, like the stellarator. The additional degree of freedom gained by giving up toroidal symmetry might ultimately be usable to produce better confinement, but the cost is complexity in the engineering, the theory, and the experimental diagnostics. Stellarators typically have a periodicity, e.g. a fivefold rotational symmetry. The RFP, despite some theoretical advantages such as a low magnetic field at the coils, has not proven very successful. TokamakTokamakA tokamak is a device using a magnetic field to confine a plasma in the shape of a torus . Achieving a stable plasma equilibrium requires magnetic field lines that move around the torus in a helical shape...
- Alcator C-ModAlcator C-ModAlcator C-Mod is a tokamak, a magnetically confined nuclear fusion device, at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center. It is the tokamak with the highest magnetic field and highest plasma pressure in the world...
, Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
http://www.psfc.mit.edu/research/alcator/ - ASDEX UpgradeASDEX UpgradeASDEX Upgrade is a divertor tokamak, that went into operation at the Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Garching in 1991...
(Axialsymmetrisches Divertorexperiment), Max-Planck-Institut für PlasmaphysikMax-Planck-Institut für PlasmaphysikThe Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik is a physics institute for the investigation of plasma physics, with the aim of working towards fusion power...
, Garching, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
http://www.ipp.mpg.de/eng/for/projekte/asdex/for_proj_asdex.html - DIII-DDIII-D (fusion reactor)DIII-D is the name of a tokamak machine developed in the 1980s by General Atomics in San Diego, USA, as part of the ongoing effort to achieve magnetically confined fusion. DIII-D pioneered new technology including the use of beams of neutral particles to penetrate the confinement field of the...
, General AtomicsGeneral AtomicsGeneral Atomics is a nuclear physics and defense contractor headquartered in San Diego, California. General Atomics’ research into fission and fusion matured into competencies in related technologies, allowing the company to expand into other fields of research...
, United States http://web.gat.com/diii-d/ - EASTEASTThe Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak is an experimental superconducting tokamak magnetic fusion energy reactor in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui Province, in eastern China. The experiment is being conducted by the Hefei-based Institute of Plasma Physics under the Chinese Academy of...
, AnhuiAnhuiAnhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...
, People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres... - IGNITORIGNITORIGNITOR is the Italian name for a nuclear research project of magnetic confinement fusion, developed by ENEA Laboratories in Frascati.The project theory is based on ignited plasma in tokamak. Started in 1977 by Prof...
, FrascatiFrascatiFrascati is a town and comune in the province of Rome in the Lazio region of central Italy. It is located south-east of Rome, on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum. Frascati is closely associated with science, being the location of several international scientific...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
http://www.frascati.enea.it/ignitor/ - ITERITERITER is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering project, which is currently building the world's largest and most advanced experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor at Cadarache in the south of France...
, CadaracheCadaracheThe CEA Cadarache facility is a French scientific research centre which specialises in nuclear energy research. It is located in the commune of Saint-Paul-lès-Durance, Bouches-du-Rhône, in the southern region of Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
http://www.iter.org/ (to be constructed) - JT-60JT-60JT-60 is the flagship of Japan's magnetic fusion program, previously run by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute and currently run by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency's Naka Fusion Institute in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan...
, JAERI, JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
http://www-jt60.naka.jaea.go.jp/english/jt60/index.html - JETJoint European TorusJET, the Joint European Torus, is the largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment worldwide currently in operation. Its main purpose is to open the way to future nuclear fusion experimental tokamak reactors such as ITER and :DEMO....
(Joint European Torus), CulhamCulhamCulham is a village and civil parish on the north bank of the River Thames, just over south of Abingdon in Oxfordshire.-Manor:The toponym comes from the Old English Cula's hamm, referring to the village's position in a bend of the Thames...
, UKUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
http://www.jet.efda.org/index.html - KSTARKSTARThe KSTAR, or Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research is a magnetic fusion device being built at the National Fusion Research Institute in Daejon, South Korea. It is intended to study aspects of magnetic fusion energy which will be pertinent to the ITER fusion project as part of that...
, National Fusion Research Institute, Republic of Korea http://www.nfri.re.kr/ - MASTMega Ampere Spherical TokamakThe Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak, or MAST experiment is a nuclear fusion experiment in operation at Culham, Oxfordshire, England since December 1999. It follows the highly successful START experiment...
(Mega-Ampere Spherical Tokamak), Culham, UK http://www.fusion.org.uk/mast/index.html - NSTXNational Spherical Torus ExperimentThe National Spherical Torus Experiment is an innovative magnetic fusion device based on the spherical tokamak concept that was constructed by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Columbia University, and the University of Washington at...
(National Spherical Torus Experiment), Princeton Plasma Physics LaboratoryPrinceton Plasma Physics LaboratoryPrinceton Plasma Physics Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory for plasma physics and nuclear fusion science located on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey. Its primary mission is research into and development of fusion as an...
, United States http://nstx.pppl.gov/ - Pegasus Toroidal ExperimentPegasus Toroidal ExperimentThe Pegasus Toroidal Experiment is a plasma confinement experiment relevant to fusion power production, run by the Department of Engineering Physics of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It is a spherical tokamak, a very low-aspect-ratio version of the tokamak configuration, i.e...
, University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States http://pegasus.ep.wisc.edu - SST-1 (Steady State Superconducting Tokamak), Institute for Plasma ResearchInstitute for Plasma ResearchInstitute for Plasma Research is an autonomous physics research institute located in India. The institute is involved in research in aspects of plasma science including basic plasma physics, research on magnetically confined hot plasmas and plasma technologies for industrial applications. It is a...
, IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
http://www.ipr.res.in/sst1/SST-1.html (under construction) - STARTSmall Tight Aspect Ratio TokamakThe Small Tight Aspect Ratio Tokamak, or START was a nuclear fusion experiment that used magnetic confinement to hold plasma. The experiment began at the Culham Science Centre in the United Kingdom in 1991 and was retired in 1998. It was built as a low cost design, largely using parts already...
(Small Tight Aspect Ratio Tokamak), Culham, UK http://www.fusion.org.uk/culham/start.htm (1991–1998) - STOR-M Tokamak, Plasma Physics Laboratory (Saskatchewan)Plasma Physics Laboratory (Saskatchewan)The Plasma Physics Laboratory at the University of Saskatchewan was established in 1959 by H. M. Skarsgard. Early work centered on research with a Betatron.-STOR-1M:STOR-1M is Canada's first tokamak built in 1983...
, Canada http://plasma.usask.ca/storm/index.php - TCVTCVTCV or T.C.V. can be an abbreviation for:*Them Crooked Vultures, a supergroup.*Tarif commun pour voyageurs*Temperature Control Valve*Terminus Centre-Ville, a public transit hub in Montreal, Quebec, Canada...
(Tokamak à Configuration Variable), École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneÉcole polytechnique fédérale de LausanneThe École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne is one of the two Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology and is located in Lausanne, Switzerland.The school was founded by the Swiss Federal Government with the stated mission to:...
, SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
http://crppwww.epfl.ch/tcv/ - TEXTOR (Tokamak Experiment for Technology Oriented Research), Forschungszentrum Jülich, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
http://www.fz-juelich.de/ief/ief-4//textor_en/# - TFRTokamak de Fontenay aux RosesThe Tokamak de Fontenay-aux-Roses was the first French tokamak, built in a research centre of the French Atomic Energy Commission in Fontenay-aux-Roses, a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France....
(Tokamak de Fontenay-aux-Roses), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France - TFTR (Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor), Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, United States http://www.pppl.gov/projects/pages/tftr.html (1982–1997)
- Tore SupraTore SupraTore Supra is a French tokamak that began operating after the discontinuation of TFR and of Petula...
, Département de Recherches sur la Fusion Contrôlée, Cadarache, France
StellaratorStellaratorA stellarator is a device used to confine a hot plasma with magnetic fields in order to sustain a controlled nuclear fusion reaction. It is one of the earliest controlled fusion devices, first invented by Lyman Spitzer in 1950 and built the next year at what later became the Princeton Plasma...
- NCSXNational Compact Stellarator ExperimentThe National Compact Stellarator Experiment is a plasma confinement experiment that was being conducted at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. NCSX used magnets and layout designed through massively parallel computing to find the optimal shape for the reactor vessel, leading to a compact device...
(National Compact Stellarator Experiment), Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, United States http://ncsx.pppl.gov/ (phased out) - Wendelstein-7AS, Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, Garching, Germany http://www.ipp.mpg.de/eng/for/projekte/w7as/for_proj_w7as.html (1988–2002)
- Wendelstein 7-XWendelstein 7-XWendelstein 7-X is an experimental stellarator currently being built in Greifswald, Germany by the Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik , which will be completed by 2015. It is a further development of Wendelstein 7-AS...
, Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik, GreifswaldGreifswaldGreifswald , officially, the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald is a town in northeastern Germany. It is situated in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at an equal distance of about from Germany's two largest cities, Berlin and Hamburg. The town borders the Baltic Sea, and is crossed...
, Germany http://www.ipp.mpg.de/eng/for/projekte/w7x/for_proj_w7x.html (under construction) - LHDLarge Helical DeviceThe is a fusion research device in Toki, Gifu, Japan and is the largest superconducting stellarator in the world, employing a heliotron magnetic field originally developed in Japan. The objective of the project is to conduct fusion plasma confinement research in a steady state in order to elucidate...
(Large Helical Device), National Institute for Fusion Science, Japan http://www.lhd.nifs.ac.jp/en/home/lhd.html - HSXHelically Symmetric ExperimentThe Helically Symmetric eXperiment is an experimental plasma confinement device at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose design principles are hoped to be incorporated into a fusion reactor...
(Helically Symmetric Experiment) University of Wisconsin–Madison, United States http://hsx.ece.wisc.edu/ - H-1 HeliacH-1NFThe H-1 flexible Heliac is a three field-period helical axis stellarator located in the Research School of Physics and Engineering at the Australian National University...
, Research School of Physical Sciences and EngineeringResearch School of Physical Sciences and EngineeringThe Research School of Physics and Engineering was established with the creation of the Australian National University in 1947. Located at the ANU's main campus in Canberra, the school is one of the four founding research schools in the ANU's Institute of Advanced Studies.As part of the Institute...
, Australian National UniversityAustralian National UniversityThe Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
, CanberraCanberraCanberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
http://prl.anu.edu.au/H-1NF - TJ-IIhttp://www-fusion.ciemat.es, National Fusion Laboratory, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (Ciemat)http://www.ciemat.es, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Reversed field pinchReversed field pinchA reversed-field pinch is a device used to produce and contain near-thermonuclear plasmas. It is a toroidal pinch which uses a unique magnetic field configuration as a scheme to magnetically confine a plasma, primarily to study magnetic fusion energy. Its magnetic geometry is somewhat different...
(RFP)
- RFX (Reversed-Field eXperiment), Consorzio RFX, Padova, Italy http://www.igi.cnr.it
- MSTMadison Symmetric TorusThe Madison Symmetric Torus is a reversed field pinch physics experiment with applications to both fusion energy research and astrophysical plasmas located at University of Wisconsin-Madison...
(Madison Symmetric Torus), University of Wisconsin–MadisonUniversity of Wisconsin–MadisonThe University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
, United States http://plasma.physics.wisc.edu/mst/html/mst.htm - T2R, Royal Institute of TechnologyRoyal Institute of TechnologyThe Royal Institute of Technology is a university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH was founded in 1827 as Sweden's first polytechnic and is one of Scandinavia's largest institutions of higher education in technology. KTH accounts for one-third of Sweden’s technical research and engineering education...
, Stockholm, Sweden - TPE-RX, AISTAISTAIST can refer to:*African Institute of Science and Technology*national institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, one of the biggest research institutions in Japan...
, Tsukuba, Japan
Levitated DipoleLevitated DipoleA Levitated Dipole is a proposed nuclear fusion reactor technology using a solid superconducting torus, magnetically levitated in the reactor chamber...
- Levitated Dipole Experiment (LDX), MIT/Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, United States http://www.psfc.mit.edu/ldx/
Solid state lasers
- National Ignition Facility (NIFNational Ignition FacilityThe National Ignition Facility, or NIF is a large, laser-based inertial confinement fusion research device located at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California. NIF uses powerful lasers to heat and compress a small amount of hydrogen fuel to the point where nuclear fusion...
) at LLNLLawrence Livermore National LaboratoryThe Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...
in California, US http://www.llnl.gov/nif/ - Laser MégajouleLaser MégajouleLaser Mégajoule is an experimental inertial confinement fusion device being built near Bordeaux, in France by the French nuclear science directorate, CEA. Laser Mégajoule plans to deliver about 1.8 MJ of laser energy to its targets, making it about as powerful as its US counterpart, the...
of the Commissariat à l'Énergie AtomiqueCommissariat à l'Énergie AtomiqueThe Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives or CEA, is a French “public establishment related to industrial and commercial activities” whose mission is to develop all applications of nuclear power, both civilian and military...
in Bordeaux, France (under construction) http://www-lmj.cea.fr/html/cea.htm - OMEGA EL LaserLaboratory for Laser EnergeticsThe Laboratory for Laser Energetics is a scientific research facility which is part of the University of Rochester's south campus, located in Brighton, New York. The lab was established in 1970 and its operations since then have been funded jointly; mainly by the United States Department of...
at the Laboratory for Laser EnergeticsLaboratory for Laser EnergeticsThe Laboratory for Laser Energetics is a scientific research facility which is part of the University of Rochester's south campus, located in Brighton, New York. The lab was established in 1970 and its operations since then have been funded jointly; mainly by the United States Department of...
, Rochester, US - Gekko XII at the Institute for Laser Engineering in Osaka, Japan
- ISKRA-4 and ISKRA-5 Lasers at the Russian Federal Nuclear Center VNIIEF http://www.vniief.ru/science/laserphysics_1_e.html
- Pharos laser, 2 beam 1 kJ/pulse (IR) Nd:Glass laser at the Naval Research Laboratories
- Vulcan laserVulcan laserThe Vulcan laser is an 8-beam 2.5 kJ per pulse infrared neodymium glass laser at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory's Central Laser Facility in Oxfordshire, England. Vulcan is also capable of operating in frequency doubled mode where it can deliver about 1 kJ to a target at 532 nm in 2 ns...
at the central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton LaboratoryRutherford Appleton LaboratoryThe Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council . It is located on the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus at Chilton near Didcot in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom...
, 2.6 kJ/pulse (IR) Nd:glass laser - Trident laserTrident laserThe Trident Laser is a high power, sub-petawatt class, solid-state laser facility located at Los Alamos National Laboratory , in Los Alamos, New Mexico, originally built in the late 1980s for Inertial confinement fusion research by KMS Fusion, founded by Kip Siegel, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, it was...
, at LANL; 3 beams total; 2 x 400 J beams, 100 ps - 1 us; 1 beam ~100 J, 600 fs - 2 ns.
Gas lasers
- NIKE laserNike laserThe Nike laser at the United States Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC is a 56 beam, 4-5 kJ per pulse electron beam pumped krypton fluoride excimer laser which operates in the ultraviolet at 248 nm with pulsewidths of a few nanoseconds. Nike was completed in the late 1980s and is used...
at the Naval Research Laboratories, Krypton Fluoride gas laser - PALS,formerly the "Asterix IV", at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic http://www.pals.cas.cz/pals/pae102la.htm, 1 kJ max. output iodine laser at 1.315 micrometre fundamental wavelength
Solid-state lasers
- 4 pi laser built during the mid 1960s at Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryLawrence Livermore National LaboratoryThe Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...
- Long path laserLong path laserThe Long Path laser was an early high energy infrared laser at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory used to study inertial confinement fusion. Long path was completed in 1972 and was the first ICF laser ever to use neodymium doped glass as the lasing medium. It was capable of delivering about...
built at LLNL in 1972 - The two beam Janus laserJanus laserThe Janus laser was a two beam infrared neodymium doped silica glass laser built at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1974 for the study of inertial confinement fusion. Janus was built using about 100 pounds of Nd:glass laser material...
built at LLNL in 1975 - The two beam Cyclops laserCyclops laserCyclops was a high-power laser built at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1975. It was the second laser constructed in the lab's Laser program, which aimed to study inertial confinement fusion ....
built at LLNL in 1975 - The two beam Argus laserArgus laserArgus was a two-beam high power infrared neodymium doped silica glass laser with a output aperture built at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1976 for the study of inertial confinement fusion...
built at LLNL in 1976 - The 20 beam Shiva laserShiva laserThe Shiva laser was a powerful 20-beam infrared neodymium glass laser built at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1977 for the study of inertial confinement fusion and long-scale-length laser-plasma interactions. The device was named after the multi-armed form of the Hindu god Shiva, due...
built at LLNL in 1977 - 24 beam OMEGA laser completed in 1980 at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser EnergeticsLaboratory for Laser EnergeticsThe Laboratory for Laser Energetics is a scientific research facility which is part of the University of Rochester's south campus, located in Brighton, New York. The lab was established in 1970 and its operations since then have been funded jointly; mainly by the United States Department of...
- The 10 beam Nova laserNova laserNova was a high-power laser built at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1984 which conducted advanced inertial confinement fusion experiments until its dismantling in 1999. Nova was the first ICF experiment built with the intention of reaching "ignition", a chain reaction of nuclear...
(dismantled) at LLNL. (First shot taken, December 1984 - final shot taken and dismantled in 1999)
Gas lasers
- "Single Beam System" or simply "67" after the building number it was housed in, a 1 kJ carbon dioxide laser at Los Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
- Gemini laser, 2 beams, 2.5 kJ carbon dioxide laser at LANL
- Helios laser, 8 beam, ~10 kJ carbon dioxide laser at LANL
- Antares laser at LANL. (40 kJ CO2 laser, largest ever built, production of hot electrons in target plasma due to long wavelength of laser resulted in poor laser/plasma energy coupling)
- Aurora laser 96 beam 1.3 kJ total kryptonKryptonKrypton is a chemical element with the symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a member of Group 18 and Period 4 elements. A colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, krypton occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere, is isolated by fractionally distilling liquified air, and is often used with other...
fluorideFluorideFluoride is the anion F−, the reduced form of fluorine when as an ion and when bonded to another element. Both organofluorine compounds and inorganic fluorine containing compounds are called fluorides. Fluoride, like other halides, is a monovalent ion . Its compounds often have properties that are...
(KrF) laser at LANL - Sprite laser few joules/pulse laser at the Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Z-PinchZ-pinchIn fusion power research, the Z-pinch, also known as zeta pinch or Bennett pinch , is a type of plasma confinement system that uses an electrical current in the plasma to generate a magnetic field that compresses it...
- Z machineZ machineThe Z machine is the largest X-ray generator in the world and is designed to test materials in conditions of extreme temperature and pressure. Operated by Sandia National Laboratories, it gathers data to aid in computer modeling of nuclear weapons...
- ZEBRA device at the University of Nevada's Nevada Terawatt Facility. http://physics.unr.edu/facility/ntf/index.html
- Saturn accelerator at Sandia National Laboratory http://www.sandia.gov/capabilities/pulsed-power/facilities/saturn.html
- MAGPIEMAGPIEMAGPIE stands for Mega Ampere Generator for Plasma Implosion Experiments and is a pulsed power generator based at Imperial College London, United Kingdom. The generator was originally designed to produce a current pulse with a maximum of 1.8 million Amperes in 240 nanoseconds...
at Imperial College LondonImperial College LondonImperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...