Our scientists have completed the installation of a chamber for experiments on controlled laser thermonuclear fusion.
The record installation was assembled at the All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics, which is located in the city of Sarov. It has the highest pulse energy among all similar installations - both already in operation and just planned to be launched.
Prior to that, the most powerful of such installations was the American National Ignition Facility (NIF). It is located at Livermore National Laboratory in California. Two hundred lasers with a total power of 500 terawatts produce a pulse energy of 1.8 megajoules. The Sarov laser facility has a maximum pulse energy of 2.8 megajoules. The experimental chamber is 10 meters in diameter and weighs 120 tons.
Scientists set themselves a very ambitious goal - for the first time to ignite a thermonuclear target in a laboratory. “The experiments that were carried out at the NIF installation showed that the system cannot provide the required uniformity of irradiation of the central capsule. Our irradiation system is different, it is almost spherically symmetric. Taking into account the previous experience of experiments, we have every chance to achieve what we want to be the first in the world,”said Sergei Garanin, director of the Institute for Laser Physics Research.
Scientists are now testing the first experimental chamber module. The commissioning of the first stage is scheduled for 2022.