We emphasize directly on our home page that we apply proven science with new engineering. But which proven science exactly? In this section, we display the most relevant fundamental works and attach a short description for each reference. In short, the hybrid fusion approach of fast ignition + inertial confinement fusion has been demonstrated by U Osaka. However, they are a large-scale user facility. As for benchtop-scale laser fusion, U Michigan has demonstrated that if people shoot fs-laser directly into heavy water (in liquid form), fusion reactions can also happen through heating. Therefore, all the relevant background science of our tech has been de-risked. The rest is "just" engineering.

Work on FI + ICF at the Gekko XII facility at the University of Osaka

[Sakata et al. "Magnetized fast isochoric laser heating for efficient creation of ultra-high-energy-density states." Nature communications (2018)]

In this work, researchers showed that one can make fusion heating much more efficient by using magnets to guide the energy. Normally, when an ultra-powerful laser strikes a target, it creates a spray of super-fast electrons, but most of them scatter and miss the dense fuel core that needs heating. By applying a strong magnetic field -hundreds of times stronger than anything in a hospital MRI - the team was able to steer these electrons straight into the compressed material, raising the fraction of laser energy that actually heats the fuel to nearly 8%. Their experiments and simulations suggest that, if scaled up, this “magnetized fast heating” approach could push efficiencies even higher, making it a promising path toward creating and studying ultra-high-energy-density matter, and bringing fusion ignition a step closer to reality.

Work on FI + ICF, again at the Gekko, U Osaka

[Matsuo et al. "Petapascal pressure driven by fast isochoric heating with a multipicosecond intense laser pulse." Physical Review Letters (2020)]

This work shows a new way to reach extremely high pressures - on the order of 2.2 petapascals - in a small volume of matter using a powerful, multi-picosecond laser pulse. By first compressing a dense plasma core, then rapidly heating it with a petawatt-class laser (several kilojoules total energy), and using strong magnetic fields (kilotesla level) to better guide the energetic electrons into the core, they heated the material to keV temperatures at near solid-density. The energy required (≈4.6 kJ) is much less than that required by conventional implosion (compression) methods to reach comparable pressures, making this “fast isochoric heating” scheme an efficient way to create ultra-high energy density (UHED) states. In addition, simulations show that thermal diffusion (i.e. heat moving from hot outer regions into the dense core) is a key mechanism in achieving the heating, not just direct deposition by energetic electrons.

Work on benchtop laser-fusion at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

[Hah et al. "High repetition-rate neutron generation by several-mJ, 35 fs pulses interacting with free-flowing D2O." Applied Physics Letters (2016)]

The study demonstrates a compact way to make neutrons using very short (35 femtoseconds), modest-energy laser pulses (a few millijoules) focused on a stream of heavy water (D₂O). The laser interaction accelerates deuterons (nuclei of heavy hydrogen) which then collide with other deuterons to produce fast neutrons via fusion reactions. Because the heavy water flow is continuous, this scheme allows many pulses per second (high repetition rate), giving a steady neutron output rather than just occasional bursts. Although each pulse produces relatively few neutrons compared to large laser facilities, the approach shows promise for neutron sources that are smaller, more practical, and usable for applications - such as materials testing or medical imaging - where steady, frequent operation outweighs sheer peak output.

Work on tritium breeding blanket at MIT PSFC

[Delaporte-Mathurin et al. "Advancing tritium self-sufficiency in fusion power plants: insights from the BABY experiment." Nuclear Fusion (2025)]

The BABY experiment represents an important early step toward closing the fuel loop for fusion power by directly measuring how much tritium can be bred in a molten salt blanket under realistic conditions. Using 14-MeV neutrons (as in D-T fusion) to irradiate 100 mL of a lithium salt mixture at ~700 °C, the authors measured a tritium breeding ratio (TBR) of about 10⁻⁴, i.e. a very small but nonzero fraction of tritium generated per tritium consumed. They also found that most of the tritium came out as HT (hydrogen-tritide) rather than TF (tritium fluoride), which was unexpected. While this TBR is orders of magnitude below what would be needed for a commercial fusion reactor to sustain its own tritium supply, the work provides valuable experimental validation of tritium breeding models, highlights important effects like tritium chemistry and permeability losses, and sets the stage for larger-scale experiments (e.g. with 1 L volumes or molten FLiBe salts) to move toward self-sufficient fuel cycles.