Focused Energy and Amplitude Enter $40 Million Agreement to Advance High-Energy Lasers Beyond the State-of-the-Art for Inertial Fusion Energy

Laser systems will be installed at Focused Energy's Laser Development Facility in the Bay Area enabling key technology risk reduction on path to commercialization

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Focused Energy, the company pursuing the most scientifically advanced path to commercial fusion, and Amplitude, the international leader in ultrafast lasers, today announced a partnership to advance two laser systems beyond the state-of-the-art for inertial fusion energy. The new technology will help develop and determine the laser parameters ultimately needed to commercialize Focused Energy's direct drive laser fusion approach. The development is supported and financed by the Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovations in Germany (SPRIND).

The beamlines will be installed at Focused Energy's $65 million Laser Development Facility which will be located in the San Francisco Bay Area that was announced earlier this year.

Focused Energy's team of world-class scientists and engineers will use the laser systems to test and optimize laser performance and fusion target design, meeting key milestones in their technology risk reduction program for inertial fusion energy. The kilo-joule class lasers are designed to test the physics needed for efficient direct-drive compression of deuterium-tritium fusion fuel targets. They will operate at enhanced repetition rates of one shot every 60 seconds, enabling rapid design iteration.

"This is a landmark moment on our path to commercial laser fusion, building off the National Ignition Facility's groundbreaking work two years ago," said Scott Mercer, CEO of Focused Energy. "These laser systems will serve as the technological foundation from which Focused Energy will build the modular laser arrays necessary for a fusion pilot plant capable of supplying clean energy to the grid."

Amplitude Laser Group President and CEO Damien Buet stated, "We are thrilled to push the boundaries of what is possible with our advanced laser technologies and contribute to this groundbreaking endeavor. Ten years of bold technological choices coupled with our leadership in cutting-edge research and industrial scalability will shape a brighter future powered by clean, sustainable energy."

SPRIND Director Rafael Laguna de la Vera stated, "Fusion is one of the most significant breakthrough innovations on the horizon and abundant energy the fundament for others to come. But overcoming the remaining technological challenges in fusion will require collective international efforts. Collaborations like this – with a strong foundation in European technology and close ties to US talent in the field – will accelerate the development of commercial fusion to meet the urgent demand for green energy."

Focused Energy is pursuing the most promising path to commercially viable fusion with the top scientific and engineering minds using the most proven technologies. Under Focused Energy's direct drive laser fusion approach, lasers compress and then ignite millimeter-scale deuterium/tritium fusion fuel targets.

Focused Energy's Bay Area Laser Development Facility complements its fuel targetry lab in Darmstadt, Germany, where the company is developing low-cost, millimeter-scale deuterium/tritium fuel targets. Focused Energy is the only laser fusion company with a fuel targetry lab.

Focused Energy will combine its laser and target technology in an engineering facility that will integrate, test, and optimize all of the technologies needed prior to a commercial-scale fusion pilot plant capable of net energy gain.

Once commercial fusion is reached, three soda cans worth of deuterium/tritium fusion fuel will be able to power a city the size of San Francisco for a day. 

The Most Scientifically Advanced Path to Fusion 
In 2022, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Lab achieved a historic breakthrough when scientists used an indirect laser fusion approach to achieve an energy gain greater than one. Now, Focused Energy is building on the successful approach pioneered at NIF.

In 2023, Focused Energy was selected as one of eight fusion companies as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program. The company recently completed its first two science and technical milestones, producing a scientific report outlining its proposed initial fusion fuel target design and successfully leading an experimental campaign at Colorado State University to optimize a method needed to ignite the fusion fuel using laser-accelerated protons.

In total, Focused Energy has raised more than $175 million in private capital and public grant funding.

Focused Energy has a research cooperative agreement with Pulsed Light Technologies, a subsidiary of Germany's Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation. Focused Energy's partnership with Amplitude is financially supported through this agreement and will help establish the global supply chain necessary for developing commercial laser fusion at scale.

About Focused Energy
Focused Energy is the leading laser-driven fusion company pursuing the most promising path to clean, limitless fusion power. The global company, based in the San Francisco Bay Area and Darmstadt, Germany, has brought together the top scientific and engineering minds using proven technologies to unlock fusion power at commercial scale. Focused Energy is working to unleash the next chapter of economic growth and scientific innovation through the widespread adoption of clean, abundant fusion power. To learn more, visit focused-energy.world.

About Amplitude
Amplitude Laser Group is a global leader in the design and manufacturing of ultrafast high-power laser systems, driving significant advancements in Nobel-caliber science, medical treatments, and industrial applications. With over 20 years of innovation, the group's product portfolio includes high-intensity Ti-Sapphire lasers, fiber femtosecond lasers, and advanced diode-pumped systems. By creating cutting-edge high-power laser technologies, Amplitude empowers researchers and industries to achieve groundbreaking results, ultimately shaping a brighter future for science, medicine, and technology. Visit amplitude-laser.com.

About SPRIND 
The Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation SPRIND was founded in 2019 and is based in Leipzig. The sole shareholder is the Federal Republic of Germany, represented by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). SPRIND closes a gap in the German innovation landscape: It finds new, groundbreaking technologies for the major challenges of our time and at the same time ensures that the added value of the resulting companies and industries remains in Germany and Europe. SPRIND is financed by funds from the federal budget. SPRIND is headed by Rafael Laguna de la Vera and Berit Dannenberg. Visit https://www.sprind.org/en.

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SOURCE Focused Energy