MIFTI Fusion scientists executed a number of campaigns at the 3.5 MA Double Eagle pulsed-power driver to test the staged Z-pinch approach to fusion at high energies and currents.
These experiments represented an important step beyond university-scale pulsed-power machines, delivering significantly higher energy and current. Across multiple campaigns using argon and krypton liners on a deuterium target, we found a remarkably stable pinch and neutron yields greater than 10¹¹. The results were in broad agreement with predictions from simulations using the radiative hydrodynamic codes MACH2 and FLASH.
This research was published in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion.
MIFTI Fusion was highlighted in an article by UC Irvine’s Beall Applied Innovation on startups that originated in the UC Irvine ecosystem.
A number of Orange County startups have originated at UC Irvine, and Beall Applied Innovation has helped many of these companies get off the ground. In this article, they discuss the origin and potential impact of MIFTI Fusion, as well as its connection to the UC Irvine community.
MIFTI Fusion CEO Mihir Worah, along with advisors Michael Campbell and Farhat Beg, published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times highlighting the need for a coherent national fusion strategy and suggesting concrete ways to achieve this.
A lot of the academic, public-sector, and private-sector progress in fusion has taken place in the United States. However, other countries are beginning to catch up, not least because of well-thought-out national strategies. In this op-ed, we suggest concrete measures that would allow the U.S. to stay ahead in this crucial area of future energy security.
