On March 6, Physics of Plasmas, the leading international journal for fusion scientists, released a “ Listing of the Most Read Articles in 2012 Published in Physics of Plasmas”. The number one article, most read out of the thousand published by the journal, was not from a giant national laboratory nor a large university group. No, it was “Fusion reactions from >150 keV ions in a dense plasma focus plasmoid”, from LPP’s small team: Eric J. Lerner, S. Krupakar Murali, Derek Shannon, Aaron Blake and Fred Van Roessel. The paper described the confinement in a tiny plasmoid of ions at a temperature of 1.8 billion ºC for tens of nanoseconds, representing two of three conditions needed to produce net energy from hydrogen-boron fusion. We had already known that this achievement was widely discussed among our fellow physicists. But this announcement shows that our peers considered this among the most interesting developments in the field during the past year, the one most worth their time to read. Better yet, with all those skeptical physicists reading our work, not one has sent us any criticism or correction. Many have offered congratulations and encouragement.
This interest is validation by our peers of LPP’s own view, expressed in our last report, that we are the leading R&D laboratory for aneutronic, radioactive-waste-free fusion, the only known means that can produce safe, nonpolluting, and unlimited energy at a cost well below that of existing technology.
