4 ms·

All of the problems you just described are solved for in EUV lightsources for lithography on chips at 100khz or more. These are less hard then you make them sou

by zbobet2012 4y ago

All of the problems you just described are solved for in EUV lightsources for lithography on chips at 100khz or more. These are less hard then you make them sound. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ge2RcvDlgw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ge2RcvDlgw Probably the hardest part is making sure the droplet is cost effective enough that we care. Again, to op's point, this is an incredibly shallow analysis. The question I would be pushing towards is: What are the hardest remaining engineering problems? How likely are we to overcome them? At the end of that process will it be a cost competitive outcome?

dreamcompiler 4y ago
This is unlike an EUV light source in that once the fusion begins, ideally you don't even need the lasers any more; the fusion from pellet (n) ignites pellet (n+1). Getting that to work is probably orders of magnitude more difficult than what just happened.
- zbobet2012 4y ago
  Why? You just feedback the energy generated from the process into the lasers. Most powerplants have an initial negative net energy.
upsidesinclude 4y ago
These processes are not similar. The laser does not hit the target, it hits the interior of the hohlraum. Generating x-rays, this creates radiation pressure on the cryogenically cooled target, which is inadequate for fusion without also pulsing a high magnetic field to confine the plasma (this is now inertial/magnetic confinement fusion). The energy output is not sustained for any duration, but rather is nearly instantaneous. The plasma and debris must be cleared of the beam path for the next laser pulse and target injection. These are the hardest remaining engineering problems if you discount the fact that energy must then be absorbed and put to use with constant material degradation of the target chamber and the necessary high output production of tritium filled beryllium capsules. We are unlikely to overcome these challenges for substantially longer than the time period required to generate a functioning EUV machine.

dreamcompiler 4y ago

This is unlike an EUV light source in that once the fusion begins, ideally you don't even need the lasers any more; the fusion from pellet (n) ignites pellet (n+1). Getting that to work is probably orders of magnitude more difficult than what just happened.

zbobet2012 4y ago
Why? You just feedback the energy generated from the process into the lasers. Most powerplants have an initial negative net energy.

upsidesinclude 4y ago

These processes are not similar. The laser does not hit the target, it hits the interior of the hohlraum. Generating x-rays, this creates radiation pressure on the cryogenically cooled target, which is inadequate for fusion without also pulsing a high magnetic field to confine the plasma (this is now inertial/magnetic confinement fusion). The energy output is not sustained for any duration, but rather is nearly instantaneous. The plasma and debris must be cleared of the beam path for the next laser pulse and target injection. These are the hardest remaining engineering problems if you discount the fact that energy must then be absorbed and put to use with constant material degradation of the target chamber and the necessary high output production of tritium filled beryllium capsules. We are unlikely to overcome these challenges for substantially longer than the time period required to generate a functioning EUV machine.