Focused Energy Appoints Former Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Dr. William Goldstein as External Board Member

DARMSTADT, Germany and AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Focused Energy, a U.S.-German laser fusion startup, is adding Former Director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Dr. William Goldstein as an external board member. With the appointment, Dr. Goldstein will bring decades of nuclear fusion and laser research expertise to Focused Energy, moving the company a step closer to its mission of harnessing inertial fusion to produce clean energy.

As director of the renowned national laboratory in California, Dr. Goldstein was responsible for leading the laboratory and the technological and scientific advances achieved at LLNL in recent years. Dr. Goldstein's work has significantly advanced research knowledge of high energy density plasmas. These have been critical to advances made in laser and fusion research, such as those being pursued by Focused Energy.

"Welcoming Bill to our executive board is a great honor for us. As director of LLNL, he has been imperative in making far-reaching scientific discoveries in the fields of fusion research as well as nuclear science and high-energy physics. Having Bill on our team brings us a huge step closer to our vision of climate-friendly energy from inertial fusion," said Prof. Markus Roth, CSO of Focused Energy. Prof. Roth has also worked at LLNL for several years and has been involved in significant developments in high-power laser research there.

Focused Energy has developed a method that can not only be used to generate climate-friendly energy but also make the energy commercially viable. State-of-the-art laser technology is used to initiate a fusion reaction between the atomic nuclei of two hydrogen isotopes, releasing "inertial fusion energy" (IFE). If successful, the energy yield from this is about one hundred times greater than the energy required to initiate the reaction. Thus, inertial fusion could be the key to nearly inexhaustible and clean energy production, as early as the next decade.

"There are many great approaches to producing sustainable energy via inertial fusion, but I think Focused Energy's method is the most promising. The combination of special fuel targets and cutting-edge high-power laser technology may soon enable ignition that releases a surplus of energy. This, in turn, can be made commercially available," said Goldstein. "I look forward to working with Focused Energy because I believe we can go a long way toward making climate-friendly energy accessible around the world!"

Focused Energy is pursuing the unique Proton Fast Ignition (PFI) approach. The method, invented by Prof. Roth, dissociates the fuel compression and ignition processes. The compressed fuel is shelled with ions from another high-power laser. The ions then deposit their kinetic energy. This facilitates the process of ignition, which ultimately releases energy. According to leading experts, the commercial use of inertial fusion energy on a global scale based on the fusion concept developed at LLNL will only become possible with the addition of the PFI approach as pursued by Focused Energy. Focused Energy plans to build the first experimental laser facility as early as this decade. This will serve as a prototype for commercial reactors to produce several gigawatts of climate-friendly energy.

Thomas Forner, CEO of Focused Energy said, "Bill's extensive expertise in managing research facilities and laboratories is a great asset to us as a company. We are delighted that he is now supporting us with his expertise. The fact that we have been able to attract pioneers like Bill ensures that we will play a leading role in our efforts to enable climate-friendly energy supplies worldwide."

With the commercial reactor, Focused Energy plans to achieve an electricity rate between 5 and 12 cents/kWh. To realize the project in the 2020s and to conduct the research, Focused Energy raised $15 million from venture capital firm Prime Movers Lab and multiple entrepreneurs, including Marc Lore, Tony Florence, and Alex Rodriguez.

Image: Copyright Focused Energy

About Focused Energy

Focused Energy is a start-up company dedicated to fusion energy as a means to generate clean electrical energy for increasing societal demand. The university-affiliated company, based in Darmstadt, Germany, and the United States, was founded in July 2021 after years of intensive research. The founding and management team includes entrepreneur Thomas Forner (CEO Focused Energy), engineer Dr. Anika Stein (COO Focused Energy), and laser and fusion experts Prof. Dr. Markus Roth (TU Darmstadt/Germany, CSO Focused Energy) and Prof. Dr. Todd Ditmire (UT Austin/Texas, CTO Focused Energy).

Further information can be found at www.focused-energy.world

Company contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Focused Energy