For more than 60 years, scientists have sought to understand and control the process of fusion, a quest to harness vast amounts of energy released by the type of reactions that power the sun and stars.

New experiments in the U.S. have now achieved a burning plasma state, helping steer fusion research closer than it has ever been to its ultimate goal: a controlled reaction of self-sustaining power.

Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers, including members of the Physics division, contributed essential capabilities in diagnostic science to achieve and analyze the unprecedented results.