So what was the advance here really? The experiment generated a bit more energy than usually, going over a certain purely theoretical threshold where it's "ignition" only if you ignore all the externalities required for driving the experiment?
It was advertised like the Higgs boson while it was really more like Elon Musk announcing that a fully autonomous Tesla had completed the first full circuit on a test track.
It's a big deal because no fusion experiment to date has achieved ignition. It's a validation of our modeling and engineering capability and it means that we probably can build a commercial reactor down the road.
Let me put it this way, if NIF failed to achieve ignition then it would be a very ominous sign.
No one ever seriously thought that NIF would ever lead directly to a commercial reactor, LCF is far too finicky to ever reliably be used in a commercial setting.
This is not just more than usual, but actual ignition. They reportedly achieved ignition last year as well, but not a confirmed and repeatable scientific breakeven so they didn’t have a big announcement until today.
Ignition is critical as it means that, to use an analogy, a flame has been kindled. The heat of fusion is driving significantly more fusion, no longer just the laser alone. In other words, a sort of chain reaction. That is THE key to eventually scaling this efficaciously to higher gains, like the 25-50 needed for useful electricity production.
It was advertised like the Higgs boson while it was really more like Elon Musk announcing that a fully autonomous Tesla had completed the first full circuit on a test track.