HB11 Energy

HB11 Energy, a University of New South Wales spin-out, uses non-thermal, ultra-short-pulse lasers and avalanche reactions to ignite proton-boron fusion without bulk plasma heating. The company reported avalanche p-¹¹B fusion reactions at the PALS facility in Prague in 2022 — a result that, if independently reproduced, would collapse the ignition energy requirement by orders of magnitude.

If avalanche multiplication of p-¹¹B is real, ignition energy collapses by orders of magnitude — true table-top fusion becomes possible.

Global electricity demand is entering an unprecedented growth phase driven by AI infrastructure, data centers, transport electrification, industrial decarbonization, water desalination, and advanced manufacturing. Solar suffers intermittency, wind capacity-factor variability, natural gas carbon emissions, conventional nuclear cost and deployment speed, and batteries energy-density and duration limits. The world requires a new source of clean, dispatchable baseload energy. Fusion represents the ultimate energy source — the challenge is making it commercially practical.

A picosecond laser pulse drives a high-energy proton beam into a boron target. If the reaction self-amplifies via secondary reactions (the avalanche), the driver energy collapses to table-top scale.

Laser-triggered avalanche p-¹¹B reaction producing only charged alpha particles, collected directly on biased grids — no neutrons, no steam, no turbine.

Pure aneutronic fuel + pure direct conversion = the simplest theoretical fusion power plant: no radioactivity, no thermal cycle, no tritium handling. The unsolved question is whether the laser-avalanche ignition route can be scaled and made energy-positive.

If avalanche fusion is real, the unit economics of inertial fusion collapse — turning fusion into a table-top energy source.

True table-top aneutronic fusion power.

Independently validate the avalanche claim and build the first reactor on it.

• Independent reproduction of avalanche fusion claims
• Driver wall-plug efficiency

1. 2022

   Reported avalanche p-¹¹B fusion reactions at PALS, Prague