MIT team finds that the ratio of component atoms is vital to
performance. Physicists at MIT and the University of Rochester
have devised a new way to take "snapshots" of the high-energy,
high-temperature reactions seen as key to achieving the long-
held dream of controlled nuclear fusion. The work, which is
reported in the Feb. 28 issue of Science, could one day help
scientists harness nuclear fusion as an energy source. It could
also shed light on basic questions about the physics of stars.
Nuclear fusion--the process by which atomic particles clump
together to form a heavier nucleus--releases an enormous amount
of energy (roughly one million times that of a chemical
reaction). When nuclear fusion occurs in an uncontrolled chain
reaction, it can result in a thermonuclear blast--such as the
one generated by hydrogen bombs. Achieving controlled nuclear
fusion, which could be a safe and reliable source of nearly
limitless energy, is one of the "holy grails" of high-energy-
density physics, according to Richard Pe