The British physicist who directed the National Ignition Facility through its ignition campaign and now leads LLNL’s laser inertial fusion energy program — bridging weapons stewardship and energy research.
ReviewedLast reviewed: 9 Aug 2026·Category: Scientists & Pioneers
Career
Mike Dunne is a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and former director of the NIF and Photon Science Directorate. He previously led the Central Laser Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK and was founding director of the HiPER laser fusion project in Europe.[1]
NIF Ignition
Under Dunne’s leadership, the NIF team achieved the first laboratory demonstration of fusion ignition on December 5, 2022, producing 3.15 MJ of fusion energy from 2.05 MJ of laser input. This milestone validated the physics of inertial confinement fusion after decades of effort.
Dunne has been instrumental in shaping the strategy for inertial fusion energy (IFE), working to adapt NIF’s weapons-physics capabilities for energy applications. He has advocated for a coordinated IFE program alongside the magnetic fusion effort.[2]
Laser Fusion Energy
Dunne now leads efforts to define the path from NIF’s ignition results to a practical laser fusion power plant, including the development of high-repetition-rate laser drivers, target fabrication at scale, and reactor chamber design.[3]
Sources
Abu-Shawareb, H. et al. "Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment." Physical Review Letters, 129, 075001, 2024.
Dunne, M. "A high-power laser fusion facility for Europe." Nature Physics, 2, 2–5, 2006.
"Mike Dunne." Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory staff profile.