Laser-Driven Inertial Confinement Concept
1972Nuckolls, Wood, Thiessen & Zimmerman, "Laser Compression of Matter to Super-High Densities: Thermonuclear (CTR) Applications" (Nature 239, 139-142, September 1972; DOI 10.1038/239139a0). Showed by calculation that a small deuterium-tritium fuel capsule compressed by a shaped laser pulse to many times liquid density could ignite and burn, founding the theory of laser-driven inertial confinement fusion. Included as a Basic result because it is a theoretical compression-and-ignition analysis; the Applied record for the programme is the Inertial Confinement Fusion innovation, linked below.
Originators
- John Nuckolls
- Lowell Wood
- Albert Thiessen
- George Zimmerman
Landmark Paper
Checked 2026-10-18 — interim signal only, see docs/BASIC_ROADMAP.md Phase 10
Connections
- enables Inertial Confinement Fusionbasis: reasoned
The Inertial Confinement Fusion innovation (anchor 1972) is the engineering programme built on the compression-and-ignition analysis in this paper. Looser "enables" because the programme also depends on later laser and target-fabrication results that are not Basic nodes here. Tier 1 SS9: the only edge from this node into the applied tree.
Cross-Domain Connections
No verified cross-domain connections indexed for Laser-Driven Inertial Confinement Concept yet. Verified links are admitted under FSTP epistemic audit standards.