Fusion experiments have begun at Antares

Antares, the world's highest‐power $CO2$ laser, was ceremonially dedicated at Los Alamos in January. Experiments had in fact begun a month earlier. The purpose of Antares is to evaluate the feasibility of $CO2$ lasers as drivers for inertial‐confinement fusion. The system's 24 laser beams are focused onto a 100‐micron‐diameter deuterium‐tritium target pellet, delivering 25‐kilojoules of 10.6‐micron, infrared light in nanosecond pulses. It is anticipated that Antares will eventually run at 40 kJ.