The world’s largest privately owned laser just turned on

Key points

• Fusion startup Xcimer Energy on Wednesday flipped the switch on its Phoenix laser system, which the company says is the largest privately owned example in the world.
• Xcimer’s approach to fusion power is modeled after the Ignition Facility (NIF), which proved in December 2022 that a controlled fusion reaction could release more power than required to ignite it.
• The NIF trained 192 laser beams on a fuel target smaller than a pencil eraser.
• The energy from the lasers hit the gold target.
• As the lasers obliterate the gold target, their energy is converted into The company is betting that more powerful, less complex lasers will help turn NIF’s concept for fusion power into something more profitable.