NIF is the world’s only facility capable of achieving conditions like those in the interiors of stars and giant planets. Using ARC short-pulse generated proton beams for ultrafast heating of matter to extreme states will enable opacity and equation-of-state measurements at unprecedented energy-density states. In addition, “protons deposit their energy very specifically. That’s why protons are promising for applications such as tumor therapy. You can send a beam of protons toward a tumor and get it to deposit all of its energy exactly where you want it to without damaging other areas of the body. Likewise with a solid material. The proton beam deposits its energy where you want it to very quickly, so you can heat up a material really fast before it has time to hydrodynamically expand — your material stays dense, and that’s the name of the game — high energy, high density.”

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