Speaker
Description
Focused Energy, startup founded in July 2021, is dedicated to commercializing nuclear fusion energy using the proton fast ignition approach. As part of our pathway towards fusion energy, we leverage the technologies developed and employ laser-driven radiation sources as an early spin-off technology to provide further benefits to society. This presentation will elaborate our approach on laser-driven inertial confinement fusion and emphasize why we think the best way to inertial fusion energy is using the direct drive method with proton fast ignition.
Additionally, we will outline our strategic plans for facility development, which play a crucial role in advancing our fusion energy objectives. These plans encompass the creation of a compression physics test platform, a powerplant technology demonstrator, and a fusion power plant prototype. These facilities will serve as invaluable tools for comprehensive experimentation, enabling us to refine our concepts, validate our hypotheses, and bring us closer to the practical implementation of fusion energy.
In addition to our fusion energy endeavors, we will showcase our utilization of laser technology to create industrialized laser-driven radiation sources. Specifically, we will highlight our work in developing the first dedicated laser-driven neutron source in Darmstadt. This facility, equipped with a 20 J 100 Hz laser, has the potential to generate over 10$^{11}$ neutrons per second, revolutionizing industrial applications such as non-destructive characterization and material analysis. We will present recent results of demonstrations of laser-driven neutron resonance spectroscopy, neutron radiography [1] and hard x-ray radiography and highlight upcoming future developments and potential applications.
This research is supported in part by the LOEWE Center for Nuclear Photonics and the state of Hesse.
[1] Zimmer, Marc, et al. "Demonstration of non-destructive and isotope-sensitive material analysis using a short-pulsed laser-driven epi-thermal neutron source." Nature Communications 13.1 (2022): 1173.
