WASHINGTON (Sept. 22, 2020) A computer simulation of the impact progression to a deuterium-tritium pellet as a record-setting argon fluoride laser developed at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory hits it. The top half of the graphic shows the reduction of the pellet size and the lower half shows the increase in temperature (red color equates to higher temperature). The simulation indicated that 109 times the incident laser energy is produced by the thermonuclear burn of the deuterium tritium fuel, enough energy gain for a power plant. (U.S. Navy graphic)