| Title |
Fuel gain exceeding unity in an inertially confined fusion implosion
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Nature, February 2014
|
| DOI | 10.1038/nature13008 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
O. A. Hurricane, D. A. Callahan, D. T. Casey, P. M. Celliers, C. Cerjan, E. L. Dewald, T. R. Dittrich, T. Döppner, D. E. Hinkel, L. F. Berzak Hopkins, J. L. Kline, S. Le Pape, T. Ma, A. G. MacPhee, J. L. Milovich, A. Pak, H.-S. Park, P. K. Patel, B. A. Remington, J. D. Salmonson, P. T. Springer, R. Tommasini |
| Abstract |
Ignition is needed to make fusion energy a viable alternative energy source, but has yet to be achieved. A key step on the way to ignition is to have the energy generated through fusion reactions in an inertially confined fusion plasma exceed the amount of energy deposited into the deuterium-tritium fusion fuel and hotspot during the implosion process, resulting in a fuel gain greater than unity. Here we report the achievement of fusion fuel gains exceeding unity on the US National Ignition Facility using a 'high-foot' implosion method, which is a manipulation of the laser pulse shape in a way that reduces instability in the implosion. These experiments show an order-of-magnitude improvement in yield performance over past deuterium-tritium implosion experiments. We also see a significant contribution to the yield from α-particle self-heating and evidence for the 'bootstrapping' required to accelerate the deuterium-tritium fusion burn to eventually 'run away' and ignite. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 229 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 34 | 15% |
| United Kingdom | 16 | 7% |
| Japan | 15 | 7% |
| Canada | 7 | 3% |
| Mexico | 6 | 3% |
| Spain | 5 | 2% |
| Sweden | 4 | 2% |
| France | 3 | 1% |
| Germany | 3 | 1% |
| Other | 21 | 9% |
| Unknown | 115 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 192 | 84% |
| Scientists | 27 | 12% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 7 | 3% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 3 | 1% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 450 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 11 | 2% |
| United Kingdom | 9 | 2% |
| Japan | 3 | <1% |
| Mexico | 3 | <1% |
| France | 2 | <1% |
| Australia | 2 | <1% |
| Canada | 2 | <1% |
| Sweden | 1 | <1% |
| Costa Rica | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 9 | 2% |
| Unknown | 407 | 90% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 115 | 26% |
| Researcher | 99 | 22% |
| Student > Master | 52 | 12% |
| Student > Bachelor | 30 | 7% |
| Professor > Associate Professor | 27 | 6% |
| Other | 75 | 17% |
| Unknown | 52 | 12% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Physics and Astronomy | 235 | 52% |
| Engineering | 54 | 12% |
| Chemistry | 25 | 6% |
| Materials Science | 21 | 5% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 8 | 2% |
| Other | 37 | 8% |
| Unknown | 70 | 16% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 985. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 20 November 2023.
All research outputs
#16,873
of 25,774,185 outputs
Outputs from Nature
#1,692
of 98,701 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#92
of 331,422 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature
#16
of 923 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,774,185 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 99th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 98,701 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 102.7. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 923 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.