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Thermonuclear weapon
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The basics of the Teller–Ulam design for a thermonuclear weapon. Radiation from a primary fission bomb compresses a secondary section containing both fission and fusion fuel. The compressed secondary is heated from within by a second fission explosion.
A thermonuclear weapon is a nuclear weapon that uses the energy from a primary nuclear fission reaction to compress and ignite a secondary nuclear fusion reaction. The result is greatly increased explosive power when compared to single-stage fission weapons. It is colloquially referred to as a hydrogen bomb or H-bomb because it employs fusion of isotopes of hydrogen. The fission stage in such weapons is required to cause the fusion that occurs in thermonuclear weapons.The first full scale thermonuclear test was done by the United States in 1952; the concept has since been employed by most of the world's nuclear powers in the design of their weapons. The modern design of all thermonuclear weapons in the United States is known as the Teller–Ulam configuration for its two chief contributors, Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam, who developed it in 1951 for the United States, with certain concepts developed with the contribution of John von Neumann. Similar devices were developed by the United Kingdom, China, and France.As thermonuclear weapons represent the most efficient design for weapon energy yield in weapons with yields above 50 kilotons, virtually all the nuclear weapons deployed by the five nuclear-weapon states under the NPT today are thermonuclear weapons using the Teller–Ulam design.The essential features of the mature thermonuclear weapon design, which officially remained secret for nearly three decades, are: # Separation of stages into a triggering "primary" explosive and a much more powerful "secondary" explosive.# Compression of the secondary by X-rays coming from nuclear fission in the primary, a process called the "radiation implosion" of the secondary.# Heating of the secondary, after cold compression, by a second fission explosion inside the secondary.The radiation implosion mechanism is a heat engine that exploits the temperature difference between the secondary stage's hot, surrounding radiation channel and its relatively cool interior. This temperature difference is briefly maintained by a massive heat barrier called the "pusher", which also serves as an implosion tamper, increasing and prolonging the compression of the secondary. If made of uranium, as is almost always the case, it can capture neutrons produced by the fusion reaction and undergo fission itself, increasing the overall explosive yield. In many Teller–Ulam weapons, fission of the pusher dominates the explosion and produces radioactive fission product fallout.
^ The misleading term "hydrogen bomb" was already in wide public use before fission product fallout from the Castle Bravo test in 1954 revealed the extent to which the design relies on fission.
^ From National Public Radio Talk of the Nation, November 8, 2005, Siegfried Hecker of Los Alamos, "the hydrogen bomb – that is, a two-stage thermonuclear device, as we referred to it – is indeed the principal part of the U.S. arsenal, as it is of the Russian arsenal."
^ Teller, Edward; Ulam, Stanislaw (March 9, 1951). "On Heterocatalytic Detonations I. Hydrodynamic Lenses and Radiation Mirrors" (PDF). LAMS-1225. Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Retrieved September 26, 2014. on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Institute website. This is the original classified paper by Teller and Ulam proposing staged implosion. This declassified version is heavily redacted, leaving only a few paragraphs.
^ Carey Sublette (July 3, 2007). "Nuclear Weapons FAQ Section 4.4.1.4 The Teller–Ulam Design". Nuclear Weapons FAQ. Retrieved 17 July 2011. "So far as is known all high yield nuclear weapons today (>50 kt or so) use this design."
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