Contributions on Laser Driven Inertial Confinement Fusion

The following modified preprint of a chapter in the forthcoming book by Guillermo Velarde and Natividad Carpintero Santamaria Inertial Confinement Nuclear Fusion: A Historical Approach by its Pioneers with personal comments is presented here as an example about the long years difficult developments towards the aim for producing unlimited, safe and clean nuclear energy in the same way as it is the energy source of the sun. There are arguments that the most recent developments with the plasma block ignition using petawatt-picosecond laser pulses may lead to a fusion power station with a highly simplified operation such that the cost of electricity may be three or more times lower than any energy source on earth, opening the golden age with dramatic consequences for human life and the environment. Applied sciences in all fields, economics and politics may be stimulated just by considering these consequences though these new results on Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) need to be further examined and developed on a broad basis.