Laser-driven Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) - Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE)

The recent achievement at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the USA of nearly reaching fusion ignition  with laser-driven technologies sets a historical milestone in fusion energy research. It confirms inertial fusion as a viable approach for future energy production. Europe has a unique opportunity to empower research in this field and the scientific community is ready to engage on this journey.

The Laserlab-Europe AISBL Expert Group in ICF acts as a forum for discussing potential advances in the field within Europe and intends to develop a broad network of researchers across Europe, to promote and focus the activities of each institution to define mutual collaborations and prepare joint experimental campaigns.

The aims of the Expert Group are to discuss potential future advances relevant to ICF including, but not limited to:

  • strengthening the collaboration between research groups in Europe in ICF/IFE;
  • developing ideas for advanced direct drive schemes for ICF;
  • development of target technologies (with strong synergies to the Expert Working Group on Micro- and nano-structured materials for experiments with high-power lasers);
  • improving PW kJ-class diagnostic laser capabilities (ARC, PETAL, etc.) for ICF research;
  • high repetition rate laser technologies: including efficient diode pumping, high repetition rate and broad-band wavelength capabilities;
  • potential experiments on intermediate scale facilities;
  • IFE materials considerations;
  • reactor relevant issues.

 

For additional information on the Expert Group please contact Colin Danson (Imperial College).

Position paper

Remit statement

News

Publications

  • Impact of strong magnetization in cylindrical plasma implosions with applied b-field measured via x-ray emission spectroscopy
  • Efficient Magnetic Vortex Acceleration by femtosecond laser interaction with long living optically shaped gas targets in the near critical density plasma regime
  • Characterization of bright betatron radiation generated by direct laser acceleration of electrons in plasma of near critical density, Matter Radiat
  • A boost for laser fusion

Upcoming events

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Members of the expert group

Members

  • ORION, Orion, Aldermaston, Reading, UK
  • CELIA, Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications, University of Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux, France
  • CESTA, CEA-DAM, Le Barp, France
  • CLF, Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, STFC, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom
  • CLPU, Centro de Laseres Pulsados, Salamanca, Spain
  • CLUR, Center for Ultrafast Lasers at UCM, Madrid, Spain
  • ENEA-ABC, ENEA – Centro Ricerche Frascati, ABC Facility, Frascati, Italy
  • GSI, GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung Darmstadt, Germany
  • HILASE, Hilase, Dolni Břežany, Czech Republic
  • IPPLM, Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion, Warsaw, Poland
  • IST, Instituto Superior Técnico, Group for Lasers and Plasmas, Lisbon, Portugal
  • LULI, Laboratoire pour l’Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, CNRS, Palaiseau, France
  • PALS, Prague Asterix Laser System, Institute of Plasma Physics, Prague, Czech Republic
  • STRATH, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom
  • WIGNER, Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Budapest, Hungary

External Collaborators