Dr. Zhi M. Liao, of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 4月25日，他在中央卡罗莱纳社区学院的一次演讲中谈到了核聚变的突破.
SANFORD - When successful fusion ignition was announced late last year, the news rocked an entire world. 《正规买球app十佳排行》头版的头条是:“192束激光的爆炸在核聚变领域取得了突破。."
Barely one month later, 60 Minutes had already toured the lab, 主持采访，并为长期播出的正规买球app十佳排行节目制作电视纪录片. “如果有一天核聚变成为商业能源，它将是无穷无尽的，而且是无碳的，”它开始说. "In other words, it would change human destiny."
4月25日，世界上最伟大的发现之一的一位科学家来到桑福德，在中央卡罗莱纳社区学院讨论这一突破. The 70-minute, standing-room-only presentation was hosted by the 推荐正规买球平台 STEM Career Community, 七个研究领域之一，旨在将有共同兴趣的学生聚集在一起.
The Path to Discovery
自然界中的核聚变反应为太阳和恒星提供了能量. And fusion ignition, what was demonstrated in a laboratory for the first time, 反应产生的能量是否大于产生反应所需的能量.
一个多世纪以来，科学家们一直在研究核聚变点火，并为实现这一目标而努力了60多年. That path has been filled with obstacles and disappointment, 但突破性的时刻终于在12月5日在加州的劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室到来了.
Dr. Zhi M. Liao was part of it all. Born in China before immigrating to the United States during his childhood, Liao didn't know what he wanted to do with his life; in fact, while in high school, 他参加了一份职业指导评估，建议他成为一名空中交通管制员. 但在进入罗切斯特大学并在劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室完成了三年级的暑期实习后, his future became clear: laser optics.
Eventually, he earned the Ph.D. 并回到劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室, 在担任该组织国家点火设施和光子科学理事会的人力经理之前，他担任了25年的激光物理学家.
Liao began his presentation at the Dennis A. Wicker Civic & 在描述化学相互作用之前，用一段简短的视频总结了这一发现. Working in a research facility the size of three football fields, scientists focused 192 laser beams on a tiny target, 将激光束通过一个复杂的系统，在最终达到厘米大小之前，该系统会放大激光束的强度，甚至改变其几何形状, hollow cylinder where the chemical reaction occurred.
Inside the cylinder, 两种不同形式的氢在极端的温度和压力下被迫结合在一起, fusing their nucleuses together to form another chemical element and, in the process, releasing energy. How extreme? "It produced an environment that was 100 million degrees temperature, 10 million degrees pressure," Liao said about the microscopic, momentary reaction. "That's hotter than the center of the sun. Think about that for a moment there: When our laser is fired, we're the hottest spot in the solar system. That includes the sun."
Man-made fusion has been around since the 1950s, but what makes this discovery such an important breakthrough, Liao said, is that it took only 2.05 megajoules of energy to produce 3.15 megajoules of energy. In other words, for the first time ever, 科学家们展示了如何利用核聚变来产生能量，这一过程最终可能被用来为世界提供无限量的清洁能源. (Not to mention all kinds of other possibilities, 比如开放太空旅行的距离，目前受到航天器上可以携带多少燃料的限制.)
Success was achieved after a long and often-frustrating process. As scientists made progress toward their ultimate goal, new obstacles emerged that had to be overcome. More than 800 experiments were conducted over a decade to make it happen and, even before that, 激光必须经过几十年的改进才能产生所需的能量. "A lot of history, a lot of failures," Liao said. "But with every failure, you learn, you overcome and then you proceed."
The Local Connection
廖来到中央卡罗莱纳社区学院是因为它的激光和光子学技术项目, the only one of its kind on the East Coast. According to the college website, 该项目“教学生如何控制光和电能，为他们从事光子学和电子工程技术的职业做好准备。."
Like all community college programs, the laser program has a local focus. 而大多数毕业生最终都在当地公司工作，可能是Cree LED等公司的技术人员或现场服务工程师, Apex半导体或Wolfspeed——一些有才华的毕业生已经移居劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室, 这个由联邦政府资助的研发中心被许多人认为是世界上最好的.
One is Brandon Pasley, 他毕业于推荐正规买球平台，在控制室工作，是指导历史性聚变点火实验中192束激光的团队成员.
Another is David Pope, 他在劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室从事另一个“改变游戏规则”的激光项目, 但还是和廖一起回到了桑福德，参加了演讲，并处理了一些听众的问题. Pope于2016年毕业于推荐正规买球平台，获得激光与光子技术应用科学副学士学位. Almost immediately after graduation, Pope says, he packed up his Toyota Camry and headed west, where he now works as a Senior Laser Electro-Optics Technician.
推荐正规买球平台的首席激光讲师Gary Beasley回忆说，Pope是一个非常专注的学生，在转行之前已经获得了四年的学位. "I knew his grandfather, 谁说他有个孙子想要动手干，而且对激光很感兴趣," Beasley said in a conversation before the presentation. “一个星期六，他来到我们的激光实验室快速参观，并立即跳了起来. From the beginning, he just excelled."
With so many students packed into the civic center auditorium, 其中一个听众的问题集中在如何在这个领域取得成功. Liao and Pope took turns responding, 同意学生需要愿意学习——尤其是在学习过程中不可避免的失败——并具备强大的基础知识，可以应用于他们从未见过的问题. Because, as Liao pointed out, "What I tell people is that what you learn in the classroom, when you come to the lab, that's not what we do. 我们并没有这么做，因为我们所做的很多时候都不在教科书上 .... We do things nobody else does."
Pope说他在推荐正规买球平台开始的道路是他不知道可能的，甚至在他北卡罗来纳州的家附近存在. 但是那个周六的巡回赛和最终的职业转变已经改变了一切. "For me," he said, "it completely changed my life."
Learn more about the 推荐正规买球平台 Laser & Photonics Technology program by visiting z8il.thebetterlife.net/lasers.
Learn more about all of 推荐正规买球平台's STEM Career Community offerings by visiting z8il.thebetterlife.net/curriculum.
Dr. Zhi M. Liao, of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 4月25日，他在中央卡罗莱纳社区学院的一次演讲中谈到了核聚变的突破.
David Pope (left) and Dr. Zhi M. Liao, both of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, visited Central Carolina Community College on April 25.
David Pope (second from left) and Dr. Zhi M. Liao (center), both of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, visited Central Carolina Community College on April 25. They are pictured with Dr. Cristy Holmes (far left), 推荐正规买球平台 Dean of Arts and STEM; Dr. Lisa M. Chapman (second from right), 推荐正规买球平台 President; and Gary Beasley (far right), 推荐正规买球平台 Laser & Photonics Lead Instructor.
Central Carolina Community College graduate David Pope (left) and Dr. Zhi M. 廖，劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室的两位研究员，于4月25日访问了中交所.