A US satellite image of what was described as a massive light center being constructed in southwest China recently appeared in a torrent of articles in the press. This appeared to be a newly discovered secret job, to the viewers. The reality is quite different.
The US, France, and China are currently the three main players in light integration. China now operates the world’s second most powerful light, the Shenguang-III, located near the” Science City” Mianyang in Sichuan Province. ( The Chinese expression shénɡuānɡ ( 神光 ) translates as “divine light”. ) Completed in 2015,  , Shenguang-II I is hailed in China as one of the country’s greatest technological achievements.
Before Shenguang-II I went on series, preparing had already begun for a much larger light program, Shenguang-IV, capable of reaching integration fire. This is undoubtedly the service that is depicted in the satellite image. Although it’s difficult to find up-to-date knowledge about Shenguang-IV, Chinese sources had previously reported that the task was being built in Mianyang and was scheduled to be finished” sometime after 2020.” It would have away to 228 light columns and a full signal strength of between 1.5 and 2 megajoules.
Shenguang-IV would thereby rival the largest presently existing system, the US National Ignition Facility ( NIF), and most likely be superior to it in important respects. When NIF was constructed, Shanguang-IV could use modern solutions.
Given that NIF is now a relatively new hospital, which construction began in 1997 and was finished in 2009, with no subsequent job, China would rank first in the world in terms of light integration capabilities.
One should not overlook that Mianyang, where the Shenguang light services are situated, is the leading facility in China for research and development of nuclear weaponry, directed energy weapons and other military-related innovative technology. There are nuclear arms produced it.
Among many other issues, Mianyang is also the site of the fast wind hole, JF-12, the most effective in the world up to the opening of China’s JF-22 hole two years ago.
The legendary Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics ( CAEP), which was formerly known as the” Ninth Institute,” owns the Shenguang facilities. From its creation in 1958 it played a key role in China’s effort to develop nuclear weapons, in the context of the” two bombs, one satellite” ( 两弹一星 ) strategy.
Laser integration has always had a strong defense connection, aside from being one of the most significant pathways to integration as a functional energy source. A giant pulse of laser power, combined with a particle of integration energy the size of a grain of sand, causes the laboratory-scale equivalent of a small hydrogen bomb explosion. This makes it possible to thoroughly investigate bomb-relevant mechanics without violating the US and China’s Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, among other things.
One should not undervalue the significance of the Shenguang light facilities in order for China to strive to be the first country to construct a functioning integration power plant.
The focus of its integration efforts is on electrical confinement systems, especially tokamaks, but China is no putting all of its eggs in one basket. Supporting light fusion and so-called orbital incarceration in general has a number of distinct advantages. The benefits include app to spacecraft propulsion and ultra-high power densities.
China is even looking into laser integration, which has a close relationship to orbital captivity integration.
The most intriguing task of Peng Xianjue, a senior scholar at the above-mentioned China Academy of Engineering Physics, is the Z-FFR fusion-fission combination furnace. In place of a light, this furnace uses the so-called Z-pinch, in which a large pulse of electromagnetic energy , compresses and ignites the fusion energy. In Peng’s furnace the particles, generated by merging responses, set fission reactions in a surrounding cover of nuclear materials, thereby releasing large amounts of energy.
A great advantage of this hybrid scheme is that the fusion part can operate below the breakeven, which is much easier to achieve, while the fission part operates below the level of criticality, making a run-way chain reaction impossible.
The government approved the construction of the world’s most powerful Z-pinch device in 2021 for construction in Sichuan province’s Comprehensive Science Center at Xinglong Lake, which will be the first step in its development. According to some reports, construction in already under way.
Meanwhile, it is intriguing to speculate as to when the recent press reports regarding a mysterious new laser facility in Mianyang came to light. We can be certain that the US annually captures dozens, if not hundreds, of satellite reconnaissance images of the Mianyang region. The construction of such a massive laser facility would not have been easy to ignore.