what is difference between laser confinement and magnetic confinement in fusion?

Question

nuclear fusion

Answer 1

The similarity is that neither works so far.

The difference is that if one creates ions of deuterium and tritium which have positive electrical charge one can confine them with a magnetic field in a device called a tokamak and heat them until they are at a temerature where fusion can occur. The device works, sort of, but requires more energy than it produces.

The use of lasers to create fusion involves creating pellets of deuterium-tritium and zapping them with a combination of lasers to both compress and heat the pellets to create enough energy to cause fusion to occur. This can also be theoretically accomplished using ion beams instead of lasers. Both are being experimented with.