Jan 13, 2026
3 min read
A team led by Berkeley Lab has produced the first high-resolution movie of shock waves passing through a fusion target.
Nuclear fusion enhancement technology first captures two shock waves for plasma stability
Researchers have gained unprecedented insight into the compression of matter using multi-message synchronized images, tracking the process at picosecond intervals.
A team of scientists has successfully captured a high-resolution "film" of shock waves traveling through a microscopic water jet, revealing a hidden mechanism that could solve one of the biggest technical hurdles in nuclear fusion.
The study describes in detail how the researchers use imaging techniques. How to use the breakthrough "multi-message" to see material compression in picosecond steps
The results provide unprecedented insight into the microphysics of inertial fusion (ICF), the process by which the Sun's power is replicated on Earth.
"It was a difficult experiment, but with very fruitful results," said Hai-En Tsai, a research scientist at Berkeley Lab's Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics (ATAP) division.
The most significant finding came from the double-view perspective, which revealed something that previous X-ray-only experiments had missed: a thin layer of water vapor surrounding the target.
This vapor layer acts as a shock cushion, ensuring symmetrical compression of the water by the shock wave.
This discovery is important because "uniform compaction" is the "holy grail" of fusion.Even the slightest instabilities can prevent the fusion plasma from properly "burning" and producing energy.
"These results can actually help validate the simulation models used for the ICF," Tsai said.
"We controlled the interaction in picosecond (trillionths of a second) steps, frame by frame, with micrometer accuracy. These are unprecedented levels of precision in inertial fusion energy."
Combination of two types of radiation pulses
To capture these ultra-fast phenomena, a team led by the University of Michigan combined two types of radiation pulses at the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELA) center.
This included ultrafast X-rays to capture the physical density and structure of the shock wave, as well as high-energy electron beams to detect how the electric and magnetic fields evolved in real time.
"We wanted to demonstrate that X-rays produced by very intense lasers have unique properties that allow us to capture a 'movie' of the very fast motion of the plasma," explains Alec Thomas, a professor at the University of Michigan.
"There has been a lot of excitement about these new discoveries recently. This is in laser-driven fusion. Making further progress will require accurate diagnostics to capture the energy of the hot plasma. This is particularly unstable behavior that can prevent the fusion plasma from heating properly."
By combining these visualizations, the researchers created a frame-by-frame visualization of plasma dynamics previously invisible to standard sensors or simulations.
Using a stream of running water
The experiment used a unique target: a flowing stream of water about the thickness of a human hair.Unlike traditional fixed targets, which are destroyed after a single laser blast and must be replaced manually, the water jet automatically replaces itself.
This allowed the team to fire the laser once per second, significantly speeding up data collection.Months of engineering required to keep the water from freezing in the experiment's vacuum went by, allowing the interaction to be observed at a high repeat rate.
Although the experiment used water as an analog, the observed physics applies directly to the combined fuel capsules.
Scientists believe that shrinking this laser plasma accelerator (LPA) technology will eventually allow these diagnostic tools to be installed directly in large-scale fusion facilities.
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