Marvel Fusion is developing economically viable laser-based inertial fusion energy through advances in laser technology, fuels, and fast ignition concepts with the goal of providing reliable clean energy without long-life radioactive waste.
Founded in 2019, Marvel Fusion is an innovative fusion company in the field of laser-based inertial fusion energy. The company is focused on advances in laser technology, fuels, and fast ignition concepts that can be integrated into validated target concepts while paving the way for highly advanced fusion target designs. To pursue these goals, Marvell Fusion combines nanotechnology, ultrafast lasers, and advanced fuel innovations.
fusion
Fusion power plants have the potential to provide reliable baseload electricity to support growing global energy demand while avoiding climate-related gas emissions. In comparison, fluctuating renewable power sources are intermittent and can only contribute a limited share without large-scale energy storage (several TWh of capacity) to maintain overall system stability. In contrast to nuclear fission, fusion does not produce long-lived radioactive waste, and its fuel is abundant and widely available.
marvel fusion
Marvel Fusion (MF) is a fusion company researching a commercially viable route to laser-based inertial fusion energy (IFE). One of its core activities is the development of advanced fast ignition concepts that will lead to new target designs, but may also be integrated into existing target designs1-3. Another major focus is the development of advanced ultra-wideband diode-pumped solid-state lasers (DPSSLs) and beyond. DPSSL operates in both ultrashort and long pulse regimes with high repetition rate, high pulse energy, high efficiency, and low cost, making it useful as a versatile IFE driver in a wide range of applications. Marvell Fusion is also engaged in pioneering research into advanced cryogenic fuels with controlled contaminants and non-cryogenic fuel systems that offer potential benefits for commercial fusion energy. The next section provides more details about the company’s activities.
Role of quick ignition
An important parameter in the context of laser-based IFE is the so-called target gain QT, defined as the ratio of the fusion energy to the laser energy stored in the target. A sufficient target gain for power plant applications will be in the range QT ≈ 30 − 100, depending on the overall efficiency of the power plant. The target gain depends on the conversion of some form of primary laser energy into useful secondary energy, followed by hydrodynamic processes and the production of fusion energy. Therefore, the target gain can be expressed as QT = ηx ηh ηb using the product of the three efficiency parameters. Here, the parameter ηx indicates, for example, the fraction of laser energy that is converted into secondary energy carriers that heat a part of the fuel capsule, η h indicates the hydrodynamic efficiency, which includes all hydrodynamic processes necessary to compress the fuel capsule and create a hotspot, and ηb indicates the fusion amplification by the combustion wave. In the NIF flame target concept, the fraction of laser energy that is converted to X-rays that heats the ablator of the fusion capsule is typically ηx ≈ 0.1, the hydrodynamic efficiency of the fuel compression and hotspot formation process driven by the ablator heated by the X-rays absorbed in the previous conversion step is ηh ≈ 0.1, and the fraction of laser energy that heats the ablator of the fusion capsule is ηb ≈ It will be 400. Efficiency of combustion waves to produce fusion energy. The cube of efficiency¹ should be as large as possible to achieve a high target gain.
In the literature, essentially two methods of igniting the fuel are discussed, suggesting substantially different efficiency triple products. One is volume ignition and the other is hotspot ignition. Under ideal assumptions, volumetric ignition of deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel requires that the DT density range product, commonly referred to as ρDTR, satisfies ρDTR > 0.5, while at the same time the DT temperature exceeds kTe > 6 keV. ⁴ Under realistic conditions, volumetric ignition is even more demanding. Hotspot ignition requires the creation of a hotspot embedded in cold fuel that can drive a combustion wave. Hot spot ignition can occur if the triple product ρhDT Rh kThe⁵ exceeds the following threshold:
(2)
where ρhDT is the mass density of the fuel in the hotspot, ρcDT is the mass density of the surrounding cold fuel, Rh is the hotspot radius, and kThe is the hotspot temperature. Over the relevant parameter range, the constant is C ≈ 6 for DT and C ≈ 60 − 150⁴ for non-cryogenic DT. Density is expressed in g/ccm, radius in cm, and temperature in keV. The advantage of hotspot ignition is primarily that it allows control of the relevant parameters of the triple product and the threshold parameter of 2, which implies an enhanced target gain.
Required.
Conventional fast ignition strategies aim to increase the temperature kThe of dense fuels. However, heating fuel with high density and high efficiency is inherently difficult. A more effective strategy is to efficiently heat the low-density fuel while compressing the surrounding cold fuel more moderately. This approach requires advanced laser-matter coupling physics and ultrafast laser technology. This is because the heating of the hot spot must be fast and synchronized with the compression of the cold fuel. MF suggests that ultrafast hot spot ignition is possible using the highly efficient coupling physics between ultrashort laser pulses and nanostructured materials that the company is researching.
The role of advanced fuels
Currently, DT ice is used as the primary fusion fuel because it requires the least amount of ignition. However, in a commercial setting, contaminated cryogenic DT and low Z compounds containing DT (see Table 1) may be more suitable. Some of them are solids, meaning they are non-cryogenic at room temperature. Interestingly, under ideal conditions, these fuels can be volumetrically ignited with ρDTR ≥ 0.35 g cm−2 and kTe ≥ 15 keV, as shown in Fig. 1. That is, it is a demanding parameter, but still on the same order of magnitude as for DT ice under the same ideal assumptions. This is because, as Figure 2 shows, at temperatures above 10 keV, the ability to absorb in situ fusion energy is enhanced compared to DT.
When introduced by nanorods in a fast igniter, the DT ignition curve shifts toward the ignition curve of non-cryogenic fuels.
Role of nanorods
One of the core elements of fast ignition devices is nanorods. A selection of high-quality nanowires fabricated with appropriate parameters is shown in Figure 3. By tuning the nanowire length, thickness, and pitch to the wavelength, intensity, and energy of the incident ultrashort laser pulse powering it, maximum laser energy absorption and conversion into new useful energy carriers can be optimized. MF has successfully produced high quality nanowires over a wide parameter range, allowing compatibility with a wide range of laser conditions and conversion requirements. Experiments have shown that these nanowires can convert nearly the entire incident laser energy into secondary energy carriers suitable for efficient fuel heating on sub-picosecond time scales. The nanowire-based fast igniter concept can be extended to multi-MJ hotspots to support very high fuel temperatures kThe over a flexible hotspot radius Rh, thereby exceeding the required cube product ρhDT Rh kThe⁵ threshold at hotspot conditions. ² This approach is highly versatile for high target gains.
The role of advanced lasers
Another core element of a high-speed igniter is the driver laser. Modern fusion driver lasers are modular, meaning they are made up of multiple subsystems, some operating with long pulses and others operating in the ultrashort pulse regime. Fast igniters require ultra-high contrast, ultra-short laser pulses with sufficiently high pulse power and energy. Although such lasers were out of reach just a few years ago, they are now becoming technologically feasible, as shown in Figure 4. Similarly, compression lasers must reach appropriate power and energy levels defined by the parameters required for efficient hotspot ignition.
company strategy
Limited access to advanced laser facilities by commercial fusion companies makes it difficult to experimentally validate fundamentally new target concepts. Therefore, MF leverages improvements in established target designs as a meaningful and realistic step toward commercializing fusion energy. Additionally, new target concepts are being developed by the company.
MF is researching new fast ignition concepts that can ignite a variety of fuels, including wet foam, contaminated DT, and a range of advanced non-cryogenic fuels. The company’s igniter concept involves the use of advanced and highly efficient ultra-broadband laser technology. The company’s frequency-converting Nd:glass-based DPSSL, with wall outlet efficiency of approximately 10%, serves as an initial platform, but future systems should have significantly improved performance, enabling significant performance increases at lower cost.
In addition to fast ignition technology, MF considers advances in efficient diode-pumped ultra-broadband lasers that are scalable in terms of energy and average as well as peak power, which is paramount to paving the way to commercially viable laser-based IFEs.
Please note: This is a commercial profile
References
H. Abu-Shawareeb et al. (Indirect Drive ICF Collaboration), “Inertial Fusion Experiment Exceeds Lawson Criteria for Ignition”, Rev. Lett, Phys. 129, 075001 (2022). AL Kritcher et al., “Design of inertial fusion experiments that exceed the Lawson criterion for ignition,” Phys. Rev. E 106, 025201 (2022). V. Gopalaswamy, C. Williams, R. Betti, et al., “Demonstration of a hydrodynamically equivalent combustion plasma in direct-driven inertial confinement fusion,” Nature Physics 20, 751–757 (2024). H. Ruhl, C. Bild, O. Pego Jaura, M. Lienert, M. Nöth, R. Ramis Abril, and G. Korn, “Non-cryogenic DT properties and their relevance to nuclear fusion,” Journal of Applied Physics 137 (2025). S. Atzeni and J. Meyer-ter Vehn, “Physics of inertial fusion: beam-plasma interactions, fluid mechanics, and high-temperature dense matter”, Vol. 125 (OUP Oxford and its citations, 2004).
This article will also be published in the quarterly magazine issue 25.
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