First Light Fusion hails 'resounding success' of first shot in New Mexico lab

Oxfordshire-based First Light Fusion revealed that its first shot (experiment) on the Z Machine in New Mexico was a "resounding success" strengthening the case for the company's amplifier technology.

It means it has become the first private fusion company to 'fire' a shot on the Sandia National Laboratories ‘Z Machine’ in the US.

READ MORE: First Light Fusion strengthens relationship with US-based research lab Sandia

First light's amplifier technology can amplify and increase a small amount of pressure from the impact of a projectile to generate the pressures required for fusion. Rather than use expensive lasers, it uses a projectile fired from a pulsed power machine as the driver.

Nick Hawker, founder and CEO of First Light Fusion, said the shot was a "considerable scientific landmark" for the company.

"It proves First Light’s target technology works across driver platforms and specifically on the most powerful pulsed power machine in the world," he said.

"This validates that the core technology scales in line with simulations and highlights experimental capability of First Light’s team. The success of the shot positions First Light as a leader in real-world high-energy density physics, giving the company (and the wider inertial confinement fusion community) a boost in the quest to deliver commercial fusion power."

The shot also set a new pressure record for quartz at Sandia’s facility, lifting it from 1.5 terapascal (TPa) to 1.85 TPa, whilst also maintaining the sample conditions required for high precision measurements for which the Sandia Lab is world-recognised.

"Our ongoing partnership with Sandia and access to its state-of-the-art Z Machine enables us to test our unique amplifier technology at pressures we can’t access anywhere else in the world," said Hawker.

"Testing at higher pressures is incredibly important as we seek to push the limits of what our amplifiers can do. We look forward to breaking the pressure record again later this year."

Work is now underway to increase this pressure further as First Light continues to explore the ultimate potential of its technology.

First Light has been awarded three shots in total on the Z Machine - the most powerful pulsed power facility in the world- as part of its ongoing partnership with the US-government funded research organisation.

The experiments form part of Sandia’s ‘Z Fundamental Science’ programme and follows the successful demonstration of the platform on SNL’s STAR 2SLGG last year.

First Light Fusion was founded by professor Yiannis Ventikos, head of the mechanical engineering department at University College, London and Dr Nicholas Hawker, formerly an engineering lecturer at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. It was spun out from the University of Oxford in July, 2011 with seed capital from IP Group.