Germany's Marvel Fusion Receives Support from U.S. Laser Fusion R&D Program

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On November 5, German laser fusion company Marvel Fusion announced that its laser beam absorption device R&D project has been selected for support under the U.S. Department of Energy's Fusion Energy Innovation Network (INFUSE) program for fiscal year 2026. The company will collaborate with Colorado State University to develop and test a novel laser beam absorption device suitable for high-power laser fusion systems. The U.S. Department of Energy announced the 28 selected projects for this round on November 2, with a total of $8.5 million in planned support. The relevant projects have entered the stage of funding agreement negotiations.

The selected project is titled "Development of Laser Beam Absorption Devices for Simultaneously Withstanding High Peak Power and High Average Power Fusion Drivers." The R&D team will design absorption components capable of operating under high peak power and high average power conditions to address unused laser energy in laser fusion facilities, and will evaluate their performance through engineering modeling, prototype fabrication, and experimental testing.

Under the collaboration arrangement, Marvel Fusion and Colorado State University will jointly carry out the design, fabrication, and testing of the laser beam absorption device. Colorado State University will be responsible for conducting prototype validation using existing high-power laser experimental facilities and refining the device structure based on test results. The research will focus on obtaining engineering performance data under various power conditions to provide a basis for equipment design of future high-repetition-rate laser fusion driver systems.

The research results will first be applied to the Advanced Technology Laser Applications and Science (ATLAS) facility currently under construction in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA. The facility represents an investment of approximately $150 million, is being built through collaboration between Marvel Fusion and Colorado State University, and is planned to be equipped with a high-power short-pulse laser system for inertial confinement fusion research. The absorption device developed in this project will be validated against the operating conditions of the ATLAS laser driver system and will provide data for the design of related equipment for future fusion power plants.

This marks Marvel Fusion's second selection under the U.S. Department of Energy's INFUSE program. In September 2025, the company received support from the same program to collaborate with Colorado State University on studying nonlinear effects of high-intensity laser focusing under simulated fusion reactor environments. This round of projects further extends the scope of R&D to engineering components of high-power laser driver systems.