Giant Laser From ‘Star Trek’ to Be Tested in Fusion Breakthrough
An initial fusion success is starting the path toward what scientists hope will someday be a new, carbon-free power source.
Instruments inside the target chamber at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California.
Photographer: Tony Avelar/
The breakthrough came in an impossibly small slice of time, less than it takes a beam of light to move an inch. In that tiny moment, nuclear fusion as an energy source went from far-away dream to reality. The world is now grappling with the implications of the historic milestone. For Arthur Pak and the countless other scientists who’ve spent decades getting to this point, the work is just beginning.
Pak and his colleagues at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory are now faced with a daunting task: Do it again, but better — and bigger.