Fusion ignition
A laboratory gets more energy out of a fusion reaction than the lasers put in.
- When
- Known to
- ± 12 hours
- Era
- Contemporary, Holocene
- Where
- Livermore, California, United States · 37.6819° N, 121.7680° W
On 5 December 2022 the National Ignition Facility in California focused 192 lasers on a peppercorn-sized fuel capsule and released 3.15 megajoules from 2.05 megajoules delivered — the first controlled fusion reaction to produce net energy gain. The result has since been repeated with larger margins. It is a milestone in physics rather than in energy supply: the lasers themselves draw about 300 megajoules from the grid.