PowerPhotonic’s Coherent Beam Combining (CBC) technology supports Laser Inertial Fusion (LIF), a rapidly developing technology that has the potential to replace all existing fossil fuel electricity production with carbon-free, clean electricity. The company’s freeform, wafer-scale optics enable multiple laser beams to be coherently combined, to produce breakthrough levels of power scalability and high-quality, low-divergence, high-brightness required for LIF. PowerPhotonic’s optics have also overcome the inherent susceptibility to mechanical and thermal instability which current, macro-scale, coherent beam combining solutions have, as power and size increase, solving yet another critical requirement of LIF.

Dr. Stephen Kidd, Head of Sales and Marketing at PowerPhotonic, said, “PowerPhotonic produces the optics required for laser inertial fusion, enabling the focusing of extremely high power, coherent light into a very small, diffraction limited, spot. The optical functions provided include collimation arrays, beam shapers, profile adaptors and phase flatteners. The light-generated heat produced becomes so concentrated, usually onto a single hydrogen fuel capsule, that nuclear fusion is initiated. It is an incredible achievement, replicating, at a small scale, how the sun generates energy. The long-term goal is to make Laser Inertial Fusion a commercially viable, virtually limitless energy source that is cleaner than fossil fuels and safer than traditional nuclear fission.

“Other applications for this technology include high-energy-density physics, such as plasma behaviour under extreme temperatures and pressures, as well as super-high-power lasers, advanced optics, fabrication and precision diagnostics. While there are still considerable technical challenges to address, PowerPhotonic is pleased to be at the forefront of this new and developing industry.”

For more information please contact sales@powerphotonic.com