A US fusion company developing a commercial reactor based on Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF) — combining pulsed magnetic fields, laser preheat, and imploding metal liners to compress and ignite fusion fuel.
Fuse Energy Technologies is commercializing Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF), a pulsed-power approach to fusion originally developed at Sandia National Laboratories on the Z Machine. MagLIF combines three elements — an axial magnetic field to suppress thermal losses, laser preheat to raise fuel temperature, and the electromagnetic implosion of a cylindrical metal liner — to compress deuterium-tritium fuel to fusion conditions.[1]
In the MagLIF concept, a thin-walled metal cylinder (the "liner") is filled with D-T fuel. A strong axial magnetic field (roughly 10–30 tesla) is applied to inhibit radial thermal conduction during compression. A laser pulse preheats the fuel to several hundred electron-volts. Then a massive current pulse (tens of mega-amperes delivered in roughly 100 nanoseconds) drives the liner inward at velocities of 70–100 km/s, compressing and heating the magnetized fuel to fusion-relevant conditions.[1]
Sandia's Z Machine has demonstrated significant neutron yields from MagLIF experiments, validating the basic physics. Fuse Energy Technologies is working to translate these single-shot results into a repetitively pulsed system capable of driving a power plant, which requires advances in pulsed-power driver technology, recyclable transmission lines, and target fabrication at scale.[2]
Unlike laser-driven ICF, MagLIF uses pulsed electrical power delivered through transmission lines — a technology with inherently high wall-plug efficiency (the Z Machine delivers roughly 80% of stored energy to the load). A commercial MagLIF reactor would fire at repetition rates of perhaps 0.1–1 Hz, with each shot destroying the liner and requiring fresh target insertion. The company is developing approaches to recyclable or low-cost liners and robust repetitive pulsed-power drivers.[2]
Fuse Energy Technologies has raised early-stage funding to advance MagLIF toward a commercial design. The company benefits from a strong experimental foundation at Sandia, where MagLIF has produced thermonuclear neutron yields exceeding 1013 per shot, and from ongoing DOE-funded research that continues to improve performance on the Z Machine.[3]