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I wonder how the composition of the pellet was optimized. I'm sure the pellet was setup to make ignition as likely as possible. Now that they've accomplished th

I wonder how the composition of the pellet was optimized. I'm sure the pellet was setup to make ignition as likely as possible. Now that they've accomplished that i wonder if parameters can be changed to up the efficiency of the reaction for energy output? Granted, optimizing for likeliness of ignition may well be the same as optimizing for energy output. Can they just up the mass of the pellet for a longer fusion reaction? Isn't additional stages in fission/fusion bombs just upping the mass with the result being higher yields? "higher yield" being a bit of an understatement as the range is like 100KT to 100MT (and beyond). Can a multi-stage pellet be formulated? Ignition of an outer pellet provides some energy to get a more powerful inner pellet ignited. /not even close to being a layman, let alone expert, on the subject

floxy 4y ago
>Can a multi-stage pellet be formulated? Ignition of an outer pellet provides some energy to get a more powerful inner pellet ignited. My understanding is that that is the whole point of the announcement. The initial laser induced fusion caused further fusion of the interior. That's why the gain is greater than one. And that's why there is excitement, the possibility is there to scale things up using larger/more massive pellets. To me, that's the real announcement, the laser initiated fusion created additional fusion. The whole break-even energy seems more like a red-herring. Also, with inertial confinement fusion you have the possibility of doing the harder fusions, (like aneutronic fusion), that magnetic confinement fusion would have a much harder time with.