How do X-rays cause fusion? I have watched the news of the recent fusion experiments and had a question.
I understand that X-rays will make the electrons break away from the atom, because the electons absorb energy.
All of the videos on experiment say that once the fuel explodes outwardly, the force pushes the two nuclei of the hydrogen isotopes inward and fusion occurs.
1.By the lasers making the fuel explode outward, do they mean that the electrons absorbing energy and breaking free of the atom pushes the nuclei inward, or is there some other outward explosion?


*After the electrons break free, do the x-rays or lasers make the nuclei fuse or is it soley the force of the electrons breaking free?

 A: From what I have gathered reading the announcements, it is a complicated experiment . The idea is of using a large number of infrared lasers (192 beams) to create the x-rays that will heat up into a plasma a pellet with the fusionable material.

In a NIF ignition experiment, a tiny capsule containing two forms of hydrogen, deuterium (D) and tritium (T), is suspended inside a cylindrical x-ray “oven” called a hohlraum. When the hohlraum is heated by NIF’s powerful lasers to temperatures of more than 3 million degrees Celsius, the resulting x rays heat and blow off, or ablate, the surface of the target capsule, called the ablator. This causes a rocket-like implosion that compresses and heats the DT fuel to extreme temperatures and densities until the hydrogen atoms fuse, creating helium nuclei (alpha particles) and releasing high-energy neutrons and other forms of energy.

This is a diagram of a hohlraum for these experiments

the pellet to be heated is in the middle.
Here is a study of the way  X-rays are produced from the walls of the hohlraum .
It is not hand waving simple..
