RISE Thrust 2 pursues the development of new high-energy, high-power Intertial Fusion Energy (IFE) laser driver technologies in collaboration with RISE industry partners.
The drivers include Xcimer KrF (248 nm), ArF (193 nm), Blue Laser Fusion Optical Enhancement Cavity drivers, and Marvel Fusion frequency-doubled Nd:glass (527 nm) petawatt laser systems. These high-energy excimer lasers are optimized for the wetted foam targets designed in Thrust 1, supporting both polar direct drive and polar hybrid configurations.
Thrust 2 also is advancing multi-petawatt solid-state laser technologies that efficiently convert frequency-doubled near-infrared, sub-picossecond pulses into ion kinetic energy, hot electrons, and X-ray photons when interacting with nanowire-based fusion targets. Thrust 2 also supports optical enhancement cavity concepts that will produce kJ energy-level pulses conditioned to drive polar direct drive targets.
Results of SBS gain experiments and models
Results of models of SBS pulse compression
Calculated pulse shapes after SBS compression.
