LLNL Recreates Diamond Rain Beyond Neptune’s Core, Eyeing 3x Fusion Energy Gain
Updated
Updated · Gizmodo · Aug 21
LLNL Recreates Diamond Rain Beyond Neptune’s Core, Eyeing 3x Fusion Energy Gain
3 articles · Updated · Gizmodo · Aug 21
Summary
Lawrence Livermore researchers recreated deeper Uranus-and-Neptune interior conditions and tracked how diamond rain behaves at pressures higher than those planets’ centers.
Laser-driven shocks compressed tiny diamond samples to temperatures hotter than the Sun’s surface while still allowing measurements of atomic structure, density, temperature and reflectivity.
Those results suggest inertial-confinement fusion capsules could use slower initial shocks to fully melt diamond fuel shells, making the fuel more compressible and potentially tripling energy gain.
Nature Physics findings also overturn earlier models that predicted an intermediate melting stage: the carbon stayed in diamond form until melting began under a single shock.
For planetary science, the measurements provide atomic-scale benchmarks for simulating ice-giant interiors that spacecraft cannot directly probe.