Icosahedral-group beam layouts for highly uniform direct-drive laser fusion
California. USA,
Original source: iopscience.iop.org, Nov 03, 2026. Click here for the article link
Abstract
We investigate irradiation uniformity in direct-drive laser fusion using beam layouts generated from the full rotational icosahedral group. By expanding the incident intensity in spherical harmonics, we show the selection rules imposed by exact icosahedral invariance and identify the forbidden multipole degrees. These exclusions are independent of the single-beam profile and therefore remain valid for both delta-function and finite-width beams. Using flat-top and von Mises–Fisher beam profiles, we evaluate the resulting root-mean-square nonuniformity and compare an optimized 60-beam icosahedral layout with the conventional OMEGA 60-beam geometry. For smooth beam profiles, this model predicts substantially lower nonuniformity for the optimized icosahedral layout than for the OMEGA-60 geometry, because exact low-degree cancellation is combined with efficient high-degree attenuation by the beam-profile transfer coefficients. We further examine random beam-weight imbalance and show that optimized high-beam-count icosahedral layouts remain robust over the range studied. These results establish a symmetry-based design principle for low-mode control and improved irradiation uniformity in direct-drive laser implosions.
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About Blue Laser Fusion, Inc.
Blue Laser Fusion, Inc (BLF) is commercializing a proprietary and novel pulsed laser architecture based on its high peak power, efficient, reliable and cost-effective laser optical enhancement cavity (OEC) technology. BLF is pursuing pulsed laser applications in directed energy defense to neutralize advanced threats with instant engagement of targets at the speed of light, with a deep magazine and low cost per shot compared to conventional approaches. Additionally, the company is developing GW scale, safe, secure, clean fusion energy based the proven ignition and gain demonstrated by LLNL NIF in 2022 in order to power economic growth and meet the acute and increasing demand for data centers & Al, EVs, and on-shored manufacturing. BLF has a comprehensive IP portfolio with more than 120 patents and applications internationally. Blue Laser Fusion is based in Santa Barbara, CA with additional operations in Japan.
