The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) awarded a $500,000 Project Grant to Syracuse University to build an ultra-high power photoneutralization laser cavity prototype. The purpose of this project is to enable efficient, continuous neutral beam injection in tokamak fusion reactors. Photoneutralization cavities have the potential to achieve over 99% neutralization efficiency for high-energy ion beams, compared to the current state-of-the-art gas-cell neutralization which can only achieve 55% efficiency. Improving the neutralization efficiency can directly impact neutral beam injection wallplug-efficiency and reduce the cost of electricity a fusion reactor can produce. The project will run from July 2024 to July 2026.
Generated 3/18/25, 4:42 AM