Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CFE-NANO (Commercial Fusion Energy with Short-Pulse High-Intensity Lasers and Nanostructured Fuel Targets)
Período documentado: 2024-10-01 hasta 2025-09-30
Founded in 2019, Marvel Fusion’s (MF) goal is to build a reliable, commercially attractive base load energy plant that will produce fusion power. The MF path to commercial fusion energy is based on a new generation of short pulse, high peak-power, high energy, and electrically efficient lasers leveraging Nobel Prize-winning technology. Likewise, impressive progress in the field of nanofabrication technology has made available a novel class of nanostructured materials. When irradiated with ultra-short ultra-intense laser pulses, the structures are capable of efficiently transforming the incident laser energy and power into very large ionic charges and energy flows.
The Commercial Fusion Energy with Short-Pulse High-Intensity Lasers and Nanostructured Fuel Targets (CFE-NANO) grant project focuses on developing advanced manufacturability processes and quality control methodologies for fusion targets fabricated using silicon semiconductor processing techniques. These fusion targets are critical components in laser-driven fusion, where precision and reproducibility of the fabrication processes directly determine performance outcomes. The reliable mass production of fusion targets remains a key priority toward realizing commercially viable fusion energy.
This project aims to address that gap by transferring proven semiconductor fabrication principles to the field of fusion target manufacturing, establishing robust process control, metrology, and scalability frameworks. By integrating materials science, engineering, and quality assurance, the project seeks to enhance yield, uniformity, and cost efficiency, ultimately accelerating the pathway toward sustainable fusion research and clean energy production. The anticipated impacts include enabling higher throughput at major fusion research facilities and contributing to the broader strategic objectives of Europe’s green transition and energy independence.
The Commercial Fusion Energy with Short-Pulse High-Intensity Lasers and Nanostructured Fuel Targets (CFE-NANO) grant project focuses on developing advanced manufacturability processes and quality control methodologies for fusion targets fabricated using silicon semiconductor processing techniques. These fusion targets are critical components in laser-driven fusion, where precision and reproducibility of the fabrication processes directly determine performance outcomes. The reliable mass production of fusion targets remains a key priority toward realizing commercially viable fusion energy.
This project aims to address that gap by transferring proven semiconductor fabrication principles to the field of fusion target manufacturing, establishing robust process control, metrology, and scalability frameworks. By integrating materials science, engineering, and quality assurance, the project seeks to enhance yield, uniformity, and cost efficiency, ultimately accelerating the pathway toward sustainable fusion research and clean energy production. The anticipated impacts include enabling higher throughput at major fusion research facilities and contributing to the broader strategic objectives of Europe’s green transition and energy independence.
During the first project period, the optimization of the first-generation nano accelerator target parameters was finalized, supported by extensive simulation and validation work. Numerical modeling was conducted to optimize the target geometry and laser coupling efficiency, ensuring compatibility with fabrication processes. On the fabrication side, preliminary tests were conducted on large-scale manufacturing equipment, allowing successful patterning on over 1000 samples per batch.
In the first year of our project, we are laying the groundwork to achieve advancements beyond the current state of the art in silicon nanofabrication. At this stage, it is important to protect these activities, so we cannot disclose specific details in a public summary.