The process is analogous to lighting gasoline, says Riccardo Betti, the chief scientist of the laboratory for laser energetics at the University of Rochester.
Then in August 2021, after years of slow but steady progress, physicists were able to ignite the hydrogen inside the capsule, creating a self-sustaining burn. The result is nuclear fusion, the process that powers the Sun and the world's largest nuclear weapons. The facility uses powerful lasers to compress fuel pellets.
