The Graduate School for the Creation of New Photonics Industries, Toyota Motor Corporation and Hamamatsu Photonics have announced the discovery of a new efficient heating mechanism for fusion fuel by irradiating opposed two beams in three steps (total: six beams) with lasers installed opposite each other with fusion fuel between them. This achievement shows that a compact device has a potential to make fusion fuel compressed, heated and ignited with less number of lasers than large scale laser fusion fuel facilities, which advances the practical use of laser fusion.
This research will be published online by Physical Review Letter on 28 July 2016 and will also be presented at the 26th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (17 – 22 October 2016 in Kyoto).
This research was a collaboration among 19 researchers at eight institutions: The Graduate School for the Creation of New Photonics Industries, Toyota Motor Corporation, Hamamatsu Photonics, Toyota Central Research and Development Laboratories, Nagoya University Institute of Innovation for Future Society, The Institute for Laser Technology (Japan), The University of Nevada, Reno and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan).