Lasers for compression and fusion

Abstract

If a deuterium-tritium mixture can be heated to 10⁸ K and contained for sufficient time a net energy gain can be generated by fusion. One method by which this might be achieved is heating and compression of the fuel by laser beams, the disassembly time of the fuel being limited by its inertia. Very high-power lasers are required, most current experimental work being done using neodymium-doped glass lasers. The article describes the glass laser installed at this laboratory as an example and some of the results obtained here and elsewhere which indicate that a laser operating in the blue or ultraviolet region of the spectrum would be advantageous. Krypton fluoride lasers might meet the requirements and the article concludes with a brief description of their properties.