The folks at the national Ignition Facility decided to demonstrate fusion by focusing the energy of 192 super powerful lasers onto a tiny target. They certainly proved their concept by producing a one megajoule laser shot. Yeah, that's pretty powerful.
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If you live in San Francisco's Bay Area and your name is Darth Vader, head to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the hottest laser action in the galaxy. Instead of destroying planets, however, the $3-billion National Ignition Facility will be used to fuse hydrogen atoms to create a small star and, in theory, get us closer to an endless power source. A PBS crew got into the facility to film it, and the only thing that comes to mind is "impressive. Very Impressive." The process is fascinating. More »
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