Laser Giant Laseroptik Participates in National Program

Laseroptik, a supplier of lasers to laser giants Thomson and Coherent, recently announced that it is one of the ten selected partners for the PriFUSIO research project, a German fusion research program.
The announcement comes after the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) recognized nuclear fusion as a great opportunity to solve all of humanity's energy problems in the context of the energy crisis. For this reason, the research program called FUSION 2040 was launched, which aims to pave the way for the construction of the first fusion power plant in Germany in 2040.

The German Federal Minister of Research has said: we want to establish a fusion ecosystem consisting of industry, startups and science in order to build a fusion power plant in Germany as soon as possible.
It is understood that in September last year, the German Federal Minister of Research announced that Germany will significantly increase the funding for fusion research, the next five years will be an additional investment of 3.7 billion euros (equivalent to about 2.896 billion yuan).
At present, together with the funds already allocated to research institutions, it is expected that by 2028, the BMBF will provide more than 1 billion euros (equivalent to about 7.83 billion yuan) for fusion research.
The PriFUSIO research project, in which Laseroptik is participating, is part of the FUSION 2040 - Fusion Power Plants research program, grant number 13F1000I. Information on the project shows that it is led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology (ILT), and that it is focused on It describes the systematic development of key technologies for future-proof, climate-neutral fusion power plants.
Laseroptik is known to be a premium supplier to laser giants such as Trumpf and Coherent, and is primarily a manufacturer of high-LIDT laser optics and coatings from the UV to the IR, with more than 40 coating machines and seven different coating methods, such as magnetron sputtering and ion beam sputtering.
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Laseroptik's products include mirrors, partial mirrors, AR coatings, thin film polarizers, complex filters, chirped mirrors and more.
In this PriFUSIO research project, Laseroptik's core project task is to develop a new generation of precision-coated, extremely powerful, reliable and cost-effective high-end optics, where future high-performance lasers for IFE reactors will be stabilized at extreme temperatures and can thus be operated permanently.
The first phase of the project, which is currently scheduled to run until the early 2030s, is primarily aimed at advancing the technologies, components and materials needed for a fusion power plant. The subsequent second phase focuses on integrating it into the power plant design.
Once the German project is commercialized, laser-driven inertial fusion energy (IFE) will provide clean and safe energy production around the clock. One gram of fusion fuel can produce the equivalent of burning eleven tons of hard coal without producing long-lived, highly radioactive waste and with no nuclear meltdowns.
In addition to Germany, China and the United States are also conducting intensive research in the field of laser-driven inertial fusion energy.
China's research in the field of laser fusion started relatively late, but is developing rapidly. Laser fusion research units include the Laser Fusion Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, the Shanghai Institute of Laser Plasma Research, and the Shanghai Institute of Optical Precision Machinery. Commercial controlled fusion startups include Energy Singularity, Star Circle Fusion, Fusion New Energy, Xinao Group, and Next Sun Technology:
The "Shenguang" series of experimental laser fusion devices is a representative research achievement of China, of which the "Shenguang-III" host device was completed in 2015 and has fully met its design specifications, becoming the second largest laser drive in the world and the second largest laser drive in operation in Asia. It has become the world's second largest laser drive in operation and the largest high-power laser device in Asia;
China is currently constructing a higher-power Shenguang-IV device.
The United States in the field of laser fusion in the world's leading level, the relevant research units and enterprises, including the University of Rochester, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Colorado State University, Xcimer Energy, LongView, Blue Laser Fusion (Blue Laser Fusion) and so on:
The U.S. National Ignition Facility (NIF), the world's largest laser-based fusion device, was completed in 2009 and achieved thermonuclear fusion ignition in 2022, and as of this writing, NIF has achieved four successful ignitions.
In 2024, Longview announced a major agreement with Fluor to jointly design the world's first commercially available laser fusion power plant, based on the same energy-gain fusion methodology as the National Ignition Facility (NIF), to create a groundbreaking energy plant.
Blue Laser Fusion is currently focused on developing a cutting-edge, high-power laser technology designed to enable stable and efficient fusion power generation. According to the company's plans, they expect to complete the first prototype in 2025 and aim to build a 1 billion watt fusion power reactor in Japan or the United States around 2030 to commercialize laser fusion technology.
In addition to China, the United States and Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and other countries are also in the field of laser fusion related research and exploration.
Last April, Japan released its first national strategy for fusion energy, outlining its goal of commercializing the technology around 2050 and supporting startups and others entering the field.

Distribution of the number of global fusion projects by country
According to data reported by the Fusion Industry Association, as of July 2023, 43 companies around the world have taken the plunge into fusion research, attracting a total of $6.2 billion in investment, an increase of $1.4 billion from last year.