A football-stadium-sized facility inside Lawrence Livermore National Lab housing the world's largest and highest-energy laser — 192 beams focused on a tiny target the size of a peppercorn. The aim is inertial confinement fusion: replicating the conditions inside a star long enough for the hydrogen in the target to fuse and release energy.
In December 2022, NIF achieved fusion ignition — producing more energy than the lasers delivered — for the first time in history. The facility itself is not open to the public, but the Discovery Center on Greenville Road has a scale model and explanatory exhibits.