Abstract
Measured highly elevated gains of proton–boron (HB11) fusion (Picciotto et al., Phys. Rev. X 4, 031030 (2014)) confirmed the exceptional avalanche reaction process (Lalousis et al., Laser Part. Beams 32, 409 (2014); Hora et al., Laser Part. Beams 33, 607 (2015)) for the combination of the non-thermal block ignition using ultrahigh intensity laser pulses of picoseconds duration. The ultrahigh acceleration above 1020 cm s-2 for plasma blocks was theoretically and numerically predicted since 1978 (Hora, Physics of Laser Driven Plasmas (Wiley, 1981), pp. 178 and 179) and measured (Sauerbrey, Phys. Plasmas 3, 4712 (1996)) in exact agreement (Hora et al., Phys. Plasmas 14, 072701 (2007)) when the dominating force was overcoming thermal processes. This is based on Maxwell’s stress tensor by the dielectric properties of plasma leading to the nonlinear (ponderomotive) force ꬵNL resulting in ultra-fast expanding plasma blocks by a dielectric explosion. Combining this with measured ultrahigh magnetic fields and the avalanche process opens an option for an environmentally absolute clean and economic boron fusion power reactor. This is supported also by other experiments with very high HB11 reactions under different conditions (Labaune et al., Nature Commun. 4, 2506 (2013)).

More.

…and still … wow…

Back in 1999 (I think) there was a paper demonstrating you can use an ultrashort intense laser pulse to very briefly drive an immense current pulse- if you arrange it so that this current pulse is driven through a tiny conducting loop you can very briefly create an incredibly intense magnetic field in a very small region.

It looks like this is part of the process they use from the diagram… Its clever, and I certainly have no idea how well it would work- the whole assembly will be vaporized in the process.

By doing this you can create a FAR more powerful magnetic field in the fusion pellet than would be otherwise possible…perhaps? enough to confine the plasma tightly enough to give a good fusion yield.

If it really works it would be big. I was once given a tour of the National Ignition Facility in Livermore (before they achieved fusion), and was told that when they first had successful fusion the conference room I was in would need to be evacuated due to the anticipated neutron flux. They had people working there looking at what materials to use in the facility around the massive chamber to minimize the halflife of the secondary radioactive isotopes created by the neutrons.

If humanity has any hope of making it we need to figure out a carbon-free energy source immediately… it may already be too late. There really needs to be an international collaboration that dwarfs the Apollo program to not just discover how to do fusion, but how to make it the primary source of energy worldwide ASAP.

Exciting. If factual, stunning. If it works, revolutionary.

“HB11 Energy’s approach could be the only way to achieve very low carbon emissions by 2050. As we aren’t trying to heat fuels to impossibly high temperatures, we are sidestepping all of the scientific challenges that have held fusion energy back for more than half a century,” Dr Warren McKenzie, Managing Director of HB11 Energy, said. “This means our development roadmap will be much faster and cheaper than any other fusion approach.”