Nobel Prize Winner Launches Laser Fusion, Gets Investment From Japan's Softbank!

Recently, the U.S. nuclear fusion startup Blue Laser Fusion announced that it successfully attracted investment from Japan's SoftBank (SoftBank) and Itochu Corporation (Itochu).
Blue Laser Fusion was founded by Shuji Nakamura, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and inventor of the blue light-emitting diode, in November 2022 in California, USA, according to reports. Since its inception, the company has raised $37.5 million in funding from venture capitalists and other investors.
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 building the first prototype in 2025 and aim to commercialize laser fusion technology with a 1 billion watt fusion power reactor in Japan or the United States around 2030.
To achieve this goal, Blue Laser Fusion plans to invest about 400 million yen (equivalent to US$2.66 million) to set up an experimental facility at Osaka University in order to launch preliminary experimental work by the end of this year.
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Softbank and ITOCHU Corporation each invested millions of dollars in this round of financing. ITOCHU Corporation is one of the top five trading companies invested in by Warren Buffett, and is engaged in domestic and international trade and investment in various fields. SoftBank is a comprehensive venture capital firm that has invested in more than 600 companies globally, and has made a lot of money by investing in Ali and Arm.
At the moment, advances in artificial intelligence and communications require greater data-processing power, and demand for electricity is expected to surge in the coming years. SoftBank sees nuclear fusion as a promising investment direction for clean energy.
Itochu Corporation (Itochu), on the other hand, is aiming to collaborate on fusion power generation, a collaboration that is expected to open the door to other business areas such as pharmaceuticals, communications and materials processing.
Specific Program Mechanism and Implementation
Blue Laser Fusion is working on a novel scheme to ignite a fusion reaction by applying a powerful laser beam to the fuel. The company is developing proprietary laser technology to address the inability to sustainably extract energy from fusion ignited by lasers.
In this method, the laser light is reflected by mirrors facing each other in a vacuum chamber, which amplifies the light so that no heat is generated. This technique is used in gravitational wave detectors, which can detect tiny distortions in space.
The program also plans to use a safe hydrogen-boron fuel called "HB11" (proton-boron 11), which does not contain harmful neutrons or tritium like conventional fusion technology, is not radioactive and produces safe helium.
Blue Laser Fusion plans to develop this technology in the U.S. and Japan, where the company has filed more than 200 patents. Previously, Blue Laser Fusion also set up a subsidiary in Japan to collaborate with companies and research institutions such as Osaka University in Japan.
In addition to attracting attention from the Japanese venture capital community, Blue Laser Fusion has also entered into collaborations with other Japanese companies such as Toshiba Energy Systems and Solutions, a manufacturer of turbines for nuclear power plants, and YUKI Holdings, a Tokyo-based company that provides metal fabrication services.
Laser Fusion and the Ultimate Energy Dream
Today, the realization of laser fusion still faces many challenges. It has been estimated that an energy output of at least 10 pulses per second would be required to hit a fuel pellet with a laser and trigger a fusion reaction to generate electricity, which is beyond the capabilities of existing high-power lasers.
Nevertheless, with the breakthroughs in laser fusion technology in recent years, more and more companies are focusing on this field. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the U.S. has injected new momentum into the development of laser fusion technology by successfully utilizing laser methods to achieve net energy output in 2022 and 2023.
According to a report 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. This indicates that the field of nuclear fusion is gradually becoming one of the global hotspots in the field of energy science and technology.

(Number of private fusion companies growing year by year)
Countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have also developed national fusion strategies aimed at acquiring key technologies in the field: in April last year, Japan released its first national strategy for fusion energy, outlining its goal of commercializing the technology by around 2050 and supporting startups and other businesses entering the field.
The United States and the United Kingdom have also developed national fusion strategies to access key technologies. The U.S. Department of Energy is leading the way in providing subsidies to interested companies and promoting public-private research partnerships.