What a shrimp can teach us about nuclear fusion

In my last article, I described a potentially revolutionary approach to generating fusion energy, by impacting super-high-velocity projectiles onto specially designed targets.

First Light Fusion, the company pursuing this “projectile fusion” method, has a pulsed power device called “Machine 3” capable of accelerating projectiles up to velocities of 20 kilometers per second, or 75,000 kilometers per hour.

“Machine 4”, which will be able to reach three times higher velocities, is in the works. First Light Fusion hopes Machine 4 will achieve a fusion gain of 100, i.e. 100 times more energy released from fusion reactions than was put into the fusion fuel.

To reach such results, however, much more is required than just high velocities. Given the extreme pressures and temperatures needed for fusion, even the impact of Machine 4’s super-high-velocity projectile on a fuel capsule would hardly produce any fusion reactions.

The key to success lies in what First Light Fusion calls the “amplifier.” Struck by a fast-moving projectile, this cube-shaped object multiplies the intensity of the resulting shockwave many times over and focuses it onto a pellet of fusion fuel. This changes the whole game.

Thanks to the “amplifier,” even the much lower velocities achieved by First Light Fusion’s first projectile accelerator, the “Big Friendly Gun,” are sufficient to trigger measurable amounts of fusion reactions, as was demonstrated in November 2021.

Cavitation and sonoluminescence

So how does the amplifier work?

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