Inertial Confinement

Methods of producing nuclear fusion by compressing a pellet of fuel using a laser, particle beam, or other external driver. If the compression produces a high enough density rapidly enough while heating the fuel to a sufficiently high temperature, economically attractive amounts of fusion energy can be produced. The resulting confinement is called “inertial” because it depends on the inertia of the fuel itself to maintain the high densities and temperatures for long enough to burn the fuel before it rebounds and flies apart.

See also: Fusion, Lawson Criterion.