The Hub IFE-COLoR (Inertial Fusion Energy-Consortium on LPI Research) has received $10 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fusion Energy Science to advance research on inertial fusion energy science (IFE) and technology. Led by the University of Rochester, the Hub brings together a first-class lineup of experts from the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the private sector (Ergodic, LLC and Xcimer Energy, Inc.) to build the scientific case that will determine a technologically viable path to IFE. Research will directly address the most significant science issues that currently pose challenges to the development of an IFE facility by setting the requirements for a direct-drive high-bandwidth laser driver that significantly reduces laser imprint and mitigates laser-plasma instabilities at IFE conditions.
The Hub will couple state-of-the-art laser technologies with advanced laser–plasma instability modeling and experiments guided by experimentally tested hydrodynamic simulations. “This is a tremendous opportunity for the University of Rochester and for scientists and students involved in inertial fusion,” says Dustin Froula, Director of the Plasma & Ultrafast Laser Science & Engineering Division at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics. The Hub will play a critical role in helping to steward the IFE ecosystem and diversifying the inertial fusion workforce through educational outreach at all levels. In particular, funding from this proposal will support an annual ten-week-long IFE Summer Undergraduate Research Program at LLE for 15 students each year to expand the pipeline of talented people into careers in IFE research.
