Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) generates nuclear reactions by focusing multiple laser beams on a small hydrogen-fuel target. The conventional method calls for the fuel to be frozen into a spherical shell, which collapses and ignites under bombardment by the laser pulse. The fabrication of frozen shells is difficult and costly, prompting researchers to propose an alternative method in which liquid fuel is injected into a foam capsule. The target is expected to develop into a spherical shell when struck with a sequence of laser pulses, before collapsing and igniting as frozen targets do. A new experiment represents a preliminary test of this dynamic shell formation (DSF) concept, showing that firing laser beams at a foam capsule—without fuel—does indeed form a shell [1].
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