News

INFUSE project will experimentally validate liquid fuel redistribution and vapor-pressure behavior in wetted foam targets, advancing a potential pathway to lower-tritium-inventory fusion power plants

The new U.S. IFE website is the central place to find information about inertial fusion energy, bringing together IFE research areas, hubs and partnerships, publications, funded projects, and news from across labs, universities, and industry.  Conference information, including registration, abstract submission, hotel details, and student support now lives there too!

Daksh Rana was recognized with the Best Student Poster award at the APS DPP 2026 meeting in Chicago, Illinois, for his poster "Simulation study of enhanced laser-driven proton acceleration from pre-expanded liquid water jets". Daksh joined HEDS this summer through the IFE-SURE internship program, working with Jhonnatan Gama Vazquez on PIC and hydrodynamics simulations of proton acceleration from water jets. Congratulations to him!    

Claudia Parisuaña, along with her co-authors, was awarded Best Paper at the Twentieth International Conference on Advanced Engineering Computing and Applications in Sciences for her paper "Multi-Material ALE-AMR Simulation of XFEL-Heated Liquid Droplets". Congratulations!

  Daniel Hodge, formerly a PhD student at BYU and a frequent collaborator with the HEDS division, was the runner-up for this year's LCLS Young Investigator Award for his work on X-ray imaging of voids collapses at MEC. More information about the award can be found on LinkedIn

These micrometer-scale experiments, possible only at SLAC, help to validate computer models for fusion targets and impact future fusion power plant designs. The sponge-like cryogenic foam is an ultrafine, porous structure used in inertial fusion targets. It holds liquid fusion fuel uniformly inside tiny fuel capsules, making target assembly and fusion fuel delivery easier.

Finding provides insights into design for heat-resistant fusion chamber. 

HEDS interns are getting great results in and out of the lab, with Josalin Wang and Matthieu Hautsch winning the all-SLAC Intern pickleball tournament. Congratulations to them, and to all the players!    

  Members of the HEDS division made a strong showing at this year's LaserNetUS meeting, presenting work performed at facilities across the US. The winning posters were: Armin Bergermann (Postdoc), for "First-principles simulations of X-ray Thomson scattering in warm dense carbon using real-time TDDFT" Jhonnatan Gama Vazquez (PhD Student), for "Enhanced proton acceleration due to recirculation in target normal sheath acceleration" Daniella Fenster (Summer Intern), for "Microst...