German Initiative Aims to Develop, Scale Inertial Fusion Targets

Funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and led by Fraunhofer IAF, the IFE Targetry HUB consortium has begun research into the target component of laser-based inertial confinement fusion.

The consortium is comprised of 15 members across research and industry. Collaborators will contribute their expertise in basic, applied, and industrial research to the three-year project plan, which aims to jointly investigate suitable materials and processes for the functional and cost-efficient scalable production and characterization of targets for laser-based inertial confinement fusion.

Members of the IFE Targetry HUB project consortium met on Dec. 20, 2024 at the Technical University of Darmstadt to discuss a course for successful collaboration through a three-year project plan. Courtesy of Fraunhofer IAF.

Laser-based inertial confinement fusion uses a target filled with the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium. This target is compressed and ignited in the pulsed process using high-energy laser beams as drivers. A temperature of up to 120 million °C is reached, vaporizing the target and simultaneously compressing and heating the fuel under enormous pressure. This triggers a fusion reaction in which the positively charged atomic nuclei overcome their mutual repulsion and fuse to form a new, more energetically favorable nucleus, releasing enormous amounts of energy.

Previous demonstrations have used spherical diamond targets as small as 1 mm in diameter. Target geometry, interface properties and purity as well as material quality are critical to the success of nuclear fusion. The IFE Targetry HUB is working to develop and implement high-precision manufacturing processes, such as additive manufacturing of foams or plasma coating and characterization of target components.

Partners on the project include Focused Energy GmbH, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology’s Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe, Technical University of Darmstadt, KERN Microtechnik, Fraunhofer ILT, Plasmatreat GmbH, and LightFab GmbH, among others.