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Times better than a mirror. They used a thicker target so it would hold its shape longer and they figured out how to boost the power of the laser shot without damaging the lasers. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory produced 1.5 times as much energy than was used to cause the reaction by the lasers, but there's a massive catch: this measurement only accounts for the energy in a very narrow way, it only considers the actual laser energy hitting the fuel. The biggest gains could be made from the lasers themselves—the National Ignition Facility is using outdated technology—but this is where the other approaches of nuclear fusion come into play. The most common way to achieve this is by using electromagnets, microwaves, and particle beams to heat hydrogen gas and turn it into plasma. This plasma gets squeezed by superconducting magnets in a doughnut-shaped ring, and eventually, nuclear fusion reactions take place inside of it.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) has been responsible for numerous innovations in fusion energy research, including the successful demonstration of multiple nuclear fusion reactions in 2014. This breakthrough project has brought us one step closer to the day when fusion energy can be used to power our world.

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