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Brian Haines

Brian Haines

Physicist, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Appears in 1 story

Notable Quotes

Igniting capsule implosions are incredibly sensitive and any energy loss or perturbation can easily prevent ignition, which would eliminate the generation of the X-ray fluxes we want to use as a source.

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The race to repeatable fusion ignition

New Capabilities

Lead designer for THOR windowed ignition experiment

Los Alamos physicists achieved fusion ignition using a target that shouldn't have worked. On June 22, 2025, their THOR design—deliberately adding windows that leak crucial energy—generated 2.4 megajoules of fusion power at the National Ignition Facility. The shot created burning plasma, a self-sustaining reaction where fusion itself drives more fusion. It was ignition with a scientific instrument built in.

Updated Feb 2