September 10, 2025
Focused Energy is pursuing a laser-driven inertial fusion energy (IFE) scheme for
commercial fusion using direct drive. The company is considering different options for
ignition– proton fast ignition (PFI), shock ignition (SI), and central hotspot ignition (HI), as
the optimal design to achieve the required gain of 50-100 is currently unknown. In this
context, charged particle spectrometry plays a crucial role in diagnosing inertialconfinement-
fusion plasmas. Its applications range from assessing the symmetry of
spherical shell compression and evaluating laser-plasma instabilities (LPI) to studying
relativistic particle beam acceleration in advanced fast ignition concepts. A common
limitation of these diagnostics is their incompatibility with enhanced repetition rate
operations, a critical requirement for next-generation facilities aimed at de-risking the
physics of IFE. In this INFUSE project, FE will partner with leading experts at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to provide a feasibility study and a detailed
design of the diagnostic suite needed to advance IFE studies. MIT has unique expertise in
the development of charged particle diagnostics which are routinely used in cutting-edge
implosion facilities such as OMEGA and the National Ignition Facility.