PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 20, 2024 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has granted fusion energy company Blue Laser Fusion an INFUSE project award to develop a high-energy pulsed laser for inertial fusion energy applications in collaboration with Caltech.

The project focuses on high-energy pulsed laser amplification using an optical enhancement cavity to generate the high pulse energy and fast repetition rates required for high gain, efficient fusion energy generation.

The Blue Laser Fusion laser concept is achieved through the implementation of a large-scale high finesse cavity, called the optical enhancement cavity, which coherently stacks pulses temporally separated in time. This results in short pulse generation with energies on the order of kilojoules with up to a 10 Hz repetition rate, and an estimated 40% wall-plug efficiency. While the technique has been demonstrated at small cavity lengths, the company plans to build cavities on the order of 150 m, which require high precision diagnostic tools and controls as well as specialized optical coatings to amplify the laser light with almost no loss.

The DOE-funded work leverages the expertise of Caltech, specifically the Adhikari Research Group led by Professor Rana Adhikari, a world leader in experimental gravitational physics and optical enhancement cavity lasers for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.

The project was awarded as part of the DOE's INFUSE (Innovation Network for Fusion Energy) initiative, which awarded $4.6 million to private public collaborations in 2024 to accelerate the development of cost-effective, innovative fusion energy technologies in the private sector. The DOE INFUSE program's overarching objective is to ensure U.S. energy, environmental, and security needs.

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