Billions of dollars are spent on research in the field of laser thermonuclear fusion all over the world. What is laser thermonuclear fusion (LTS)? Why is it needed and what successful experiments have already been done? Speaker: Mikhail Leonidovich Shmatov, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Solid State Theory of Ioffe Institute.

Controlled thermonuclear fusion, including laser fusion, can be used to develop energetics of the future and for other purposes. The plasma heating temperature for igniting a reaction of this type can reach 140 million degrees Celsius. In the entire history of science, no one has been able to ignite a thermonuclear target in a laboratory until now, and today thousands of specialists around the world are working on this task.

RELATED LINKS:

● N. G. Basov, O. N. Krokhin. Conditions for heating up of a plasma by the radiation from an optical generator. JETP, volume 46, issue 1, pp. 171-175 (1964). [Sov. Phys. - JETP, volume 19, issue 1, pp. 123-125 (1964)].

● E. Teller. A future ICE (thermonuclear, that is!) IEEE Spectrum, Vol. 10, N 1, pp. 60–63 (1973).

● V. A. Shcherbakov. Ignition of a laser-fusion target by a focusing shock wave. Fizika Plazmy, Volume 9, issue 2, pp. 409-411 (1983) [Sov. J. PLasma Physics, volume 9, issue 2, pp. 240-241 (1983)].

● L. P. Feoktistov. Horizons of LTF. In the collection: The Future of Science, issue 18, pp. 168-198 (Znanie, M., 1985).

● N. G. Basov, I. G. Lebo, V. B. Rozanov. Physics of Laser Thermonuclear fusion (Znanie, M., 1988).

● M. M. Basko, S. Yu. Guskov, A. N. Didenko, A. V. Zabrodin, V. S. Imshennik, D. G. Koshkarev, M. V. Maslennikov, S. A. Medin, S. L. Nedoseev, Yu. N. Orlov, V. P. Smirnov, V. I. Subbotin, L. P. Feoktistov, V. V. Kharitonov, M. D. Churazov, B. Yu. Sharkov. Nuclear fusion with inertial confinement. The current state and prospects for energy, edited by B. Y. Sharkov (Fizmatlit, M., 2005).

● M. L. Shmatov. Some thermonuclear power plants as the possible sources of He3 for space propulsion systems. JBIS, Vol. 60, N 5, pp. 180–187 (2007).

● B. Bishop. National Ignition Facility experiment puts researchers at threshold of fusion ignition. (August 18, 2021).

● D. Clery. Laser-powered fusion effort nears ‘ignition’. Science, Vol. 373, issue 6557, p. 841 (2021).

● M. L. Shmatov. Igniting a microexplosion by a microexplosion and some other controlled thermonuclear fusion scenarios with neutronless reactions. UFN, Volume 189, No. 1, pp. 72-84 (2019).  [Physics - Uspekh, volume 62, issue 1, pp. 70-81 (2019)].