Pull to refresh
Logo
Daily Brief
Following
Why Ranks Sign Up
Annie Kritcher

Annie Kritcher

Principal Designer, NIF Ignition Experiments

Appears in 1 story

Notable Quotes

Igniting capsule implosions are incredibly sensitive and any energy loss or perturbation can easily prevent ignition.

Stories

The race to repeatable fusion ignition

New Capabilities

Lead designer for historic December 2022 ignition achievement

Los Alamos physicists achieved fusion ignition using a target that shouldn't have worked. On June 22, 2025, their THOR design—deliberately adding windows that leak crucial energy—generated 2.4 megajoules of fusion power at the National Ignition Facility. The shot created burning plasma, a self-sustaining reaction where fusion itself drives more fusion. It was ignition with a scientific instrument built in.

Updated Feb 2