Focused Energy, A New Approach Towards Inertial Fusion Energy

Abstract

Focused Energy is a new startup company with the goal of developing laser-driven inertial fusion energy for electrical power production. The company combines the results from decades of fundamental research in inertial confinement fusion at universities and national laboratories with the flexibility and the speed of a startup company. Focused Energy has chosen the direct-drive, proton fast ignition approach to reach ignition, burn and high gain as the most promising approach. Located in Austin/US and Darmstadt/Germany, supported by the science community and private investment Focused Energy is paving the way to inertial fusion energy combining the best skill set and state-of-the-art technology from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In this paper we discuss the details and reasoning for the approach and the technical directions we have chosen. We will outline our roadmap for getting to a fusion pilot plant in the mid to late 2030s.