Inertial Confinement Fusion

PhD project for October 2026
Supervised by Prof. Jeremy Chittenden, j.chittenden@ic.ac.uk

Magneto-Inertial Fusion systems provide a promising and cost-effective route to generating large fusion yields, benefiting from the suppression of thermal conduction losses through magnetisation of the fusion fuel. The Magnetised Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF) concept, developed primarily at Sandia National Laboratory, is second only to NIF in terms of inertial fusion yield.  Scaling predictions published by SNL suggest that ignition and high gain could be achieved using MagLIF based designs on a Next Generation Pulsed Power driver (NGPP) at 50-60MA, i.e. around twice the current of the current ‘Z’ facility at SNL. In parallel with SNL’s proposal for NGPP, California based start-up Pacific Fusion have raised sufficient capital to construct a driver comparable to NGPP based on similar liner driven concepts to MagLIF. In the UK, First Light Fusion are pursuing a different approach to Magnetised Liner Inertial Fusion (FLARE) based on similar technology.

MagLIF experiments require a complex interplay between laser heating of fusion fuel, magnetisation of this fuel to suppress heat loss and compression of the fuel using a magnetically driven implosion of the surrounding metal cylinder or liner. Current challenges which are thought to limit the fusion performance of MagLIF are the reduced coupling efficiency of laser energy into the fuel, loss of fuel magnetisation due to extended MHD effects and lack of symmetry in the high convergence implosion. This PhD project will make use of the Chimera variant of the MHD code Gorgon, developed at Imperial College, to investigate these performance limiting factors and to evaluate the prospects for scaling MagLIF to high yield.  

The project will evaluate the effect of electro-thermal instabilities (ETI) which seed perturbations in the liner and which are then amplified by the Rayleigh-Taylor instability during implosion. Improvements to resistivity and equation of state data as well as material strength models, can be constrained by also simulating smaller scale pulsed power experiments using advanced light sources (such as ESRF or LCLS) as well as the Mykonos driver at SNL, which provide information on the structures arising from ETI. The effects of voids within the metal liner as well as embedded resistive inclusions, which provide seeds for the ETI will be investigated. The project will then assess the effect of ETI on the morphology of the final stagnation column and therefore how it affects fusion performance. Options for improving liner performance, by mitigating ETI growth, such as changing materials or using surface coatings will be investigated. To investigate potential reduced performance due to poor laser energy coupling, the project will make use of recent developments within Chimera to be able to include the effects of laser speckle and laser plasma instabilities. Alternative strategies for fuel preheat, including the use of an exploded deuterium fibre will be studied. Similarly alternative strategies for fuel magnetisation, including AutoMag and the Dynamic Screw Pinch concepts will also be evaluated.

The project will test current projections for scaling to high yield on larger drivers. Options for alternative high yield target designs, including graded density liners and cryogenic fuel layers will be evaluated, together with the use of machine learning models for optimising target design at different scales. The project will study the effect of strong magnetisation of heat flow during the ignition and burn of high yield targets, together with the effects of alpha particle magnetisation.

The student will be expected to collaborate with colleagues at Sandia National Laboratory and within US universities working in magnetised HEDP. The project will be based within the Centre for Inertial Fusion Studies at Imperial College.

Funding - TBD

PhD project for October 2026
Supervised by Dr Brian Appelbe, b.appelbe07@ic.ac.uk  & Prof Jeremy Chittenden, j.chittenden@ic.ac.uk 

The astrophysical production sites which facilitate nucleosynthesis in nature are bodies of extreme density, temperature and pressure. Neutron induced reactions, in particular the slow and rapid neutron capture processes, are the main drivers of nucleosynthesis in stars, supernovae and neutron star mergers. The extreme temperature and density conditions cause significant populations of the nuclei undergoing neutron capture reactions to exist in nuclear excited states, often referred to as isomers. Reaction cross sections can vary substantially for different states of nuclear excitation, and so accurate prediction of nucleosynthesis rates requires accurate knowledge of excitation rates (isomer production) at a given temperature and density.

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) carries out Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) experiments in which plasmas are compressed to reach temperatures and densities similar to those found in the centre of stars (temperatures of ~10 keV, densities of ~10^4 kg m^-3). These experiments can provide an ideal platform for studying isomer production and neutron capture reactions in hot, dense plasmas. At these conditions the plasmas produce large amounts of fast neutrons and excite significant numbers of nuclei into isomeric states. However, accurate theoretical and computational models for the isomer production in these experiments do not exist. Developing such models will be essential for designing ICF experiments to address outstanding questions in nuclear astrophysics. This is a new field of research, made possible by recent experimental breakthroughs at the NIF, where the required plasma conditions and neutron fluxes can now be created in the laboratory. This PhD project seeks to use nuclear and plasma theory to develop a computational model of isomer production that will be coupled to computational models describing the hydrodynamic evolution of the plasma in ICF experiments, thereby providing accurate predictions for the rates of neutron capture on excited states occurring in hot plasmas. The project will involve collaboration with scientists at a number of institutions, including at the NIF. The project will be based within the Centre for Inertial Fusion Studies at Imperial College.

Funding - TBD

PhD project for October 2026

Supervised by
Prof. Sergey Lebedev, s.lebedev@ic.ac.uk Dr Lee Suttle, l.suttle10@ic.ac.uk Prof. Simon Bland sn.bland@ic.ac.uk 

High Energy Density Physics (HEDP) explores the behaviour of matter and radiation under extreme conditions of temperature, pressure, and magnetic field—conditions comparable to those found in astrophysical environments and schemes for inertial confinement fusion (ICF). This PhD project will take place on Blackett Laboratory’s in-house 1-MA MAGPIE generator, which uses a 500-ns, 1-TW pulse of electrical energy to produce and accelerate plasma flows to supersonic velocities, whilst carrying dynamically significant magnetic fields. 

The scope of the project will be to isolate and investigate fundamental processes in the domain of magnetized, HEDP environments, such as magnetized transport, shock formation, reconnection, and plasma instabilities relevant to ICF, as they evolve into turbulence. These studies will rely on the use and continued development of MAGPIE’s world-leading suite of plasma diagnostics, using techniques such as Thomson-scattering, Faraday rotation imaging, Zeeman polarisation spectroscopy and refractometric imaging amongst others.