17 Juni Fusion: a future market for photonics
Laser-based inertial confinement fusion is making the leap from basic research to application-oriented technology development. Germany has set the course for tapping into this energy source: since the German government launched the ‘Fusion 2040 – Research on the way to the fusion power plant’ program in spring 2024, 16 consortia with a funding volume of 140 million euros have been formed. The aim is for corporations, SMEs, start-ups, research institutes and universities to pool their expertise in order to develop basic technologies for fusion power plants. It is the start of a research offensive which, according to the government, will provide Germany with over one billion euros in funding by 2030. This is to be supplemented by private investment from the participating companies. The majority of these companies come from the photonics industry, which has recognized fusion as a strategic future market.
Laser World of Photonics: Application Panel
An application panel at the Laser World of Photonics in Munich aims to get to the bottom of the potential for the photonics industry. Led by Dr. Jochen Stollenwerk, acting director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen, experts from industry and science will discuss the state of the art, challenges and photonic solutions. Professor Constantin Häfner, Executive Board Member for Research and Transfer at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, will give the keynote speech on the panel ‘Laser Fusion: Energizing Photonics Industry’. Until the end of 2019, he was Program Director for Advanced Photon Technologies at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, USA, where he was responsible for the development of the world’s most powerful laser systems, which were used to ignite a fusion plasma for the first time at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) there.
Since moving to Germany, Häfner has contributed his expertise as an advisor to the German government on the fusion advisory board of the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and as head of the expert commission for laser fusion. In his presentation, he will shed light on the opportunities for Germany and Europe in the future market of laser fusion, also in light of the fact that German photonics companies have played a role in NIF construction as technology and hardware suppliers that should not be underestimated.
“The establishment of efficient supply chains in photonics is the prerequisite for the technical and economic feasibility of a fusion power plant,” says Häfner. A number of innovations are still needed on the way there. Due to the expected market size, these will trigger far-reaching transformations in the current market for industrial lasers, laser applications and optics. In the form of spillover effects, the research and development that is already underway could also have a short-term impact on the photonics market, emphasizes Häfner.
Professor Constantin Häfner, Executive Board Member for Research and Transfer at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, opens the discussion at Laser World of Photonics with his keynote speech on the application panel ‘Laser Fusion: Energizing Photonics Industry’. Image: Fraunhofer ILT, Aachen / Andreas Steindl
Photonics, optics and materials science
With the formation of the first consortia in the ‘Fusion 2040’ program, the starting signal has been given for an innovation offensive. The projects bring together players from the fields of photonics, optics and materials science and their expertise. The focus is on the development and production of highly efficient diode lasers and robust optical glasses and crystals. These will be exposed to extreme loads in the continuous operation of commercial power plants. Their task is to pump laser pulses at high frequency to the energy level required to convert a mixture of the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium into a plasma and ignite their fusion. For commercial operation, ten to 20 targets per second must be ignited with this mixture. There is also a need to develop these targets – pinhead-sized spheres – and the first reactor wall. The latter is exposed to the neutrons released during fusion and the thermal radiation of the fusion plasma at over 150 million degrees Celsius. There are also areas for development in the tritium cycle and the additive manufacturing of complex power plant components where possible.
Technology transfer to other markets
The consortia are addressing these issues. According to the partners, it is already foreseeable that spillover effects on photonics and its user industries will occur. For example, one of the projects aims to significantly increase the performance of diode lasers while at the same time greatly reducing costs as a result of fully automated production. If the consortium achieves its objectives, the partners believe that diode lasers will have transformative – and in some cases disruptive – potential across all sectors. There is also demand from other markets for high-power beam sources and the optical glass required for fusion power plants. And there is growing demand for lasers that can be used as secondary sources to generate EUV, neutron or X-ray radiation. Among other things, they are in demand for combined X-ray and neutron imaging. The process is intended to enable optical and material analyses of the contents through the walls of sealed drums and containers. Laser beam sources are the key to miniaturizing the particle accelerators required for this and integrating them into compact devices.
On the way to concepts and technologies suitable for power plants
Completely new concepts are needed to make fusion technology usable in power plants. The German government has initiated their development with the ‘Fusion 2040’ program. According to the federal government, industry participation in the first tenders was enormous. The development of optical, photonic and materials science power plant technologies has thus begun. By 2030, more than one billion euros will be available for open-technology research: in addition to laser-based inertial confinement fusion, magnetic fusion is also on the agenda. The consortia bring together manufacturers of lasers, optics, coating processes, increasingly AI-supported production technology as well as testing and software development with research institutions in order to leverage the great potential of the photonic market of the future.
Source: www.ilt.fraunhofer.de
Image: Messe München