​About The Project:

The UK Programme of Laser Inertial Fusion Technology for Energy (UPLiFT) is an exciting project led by the CLF and funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). 

​UPLIFT will provide a focus in the UK for the development of technologies relevant to energy-generation via laser inertial fusio​n. In doing so, UPLiFT aims to grow the UK’s laser fusion research base and accelerate the development of UK knowledge, technology and expertise in this area.​

Part of the UK’s Fusion Futures programme, UPLiFT will run over 4 years with a total budget of £10M. The CLF will act as the lead organisation, with research and development performed jointly with academia, industry, and other national laboratories in a programmatic manner. 

The Project will focus on three key areas:

• Laser development: Building on the world leading DiPOLE laser architecture, UPLIFT will investigate new, novel schemes and concepts to meet the demanding challenges of a fusion relevant laser driver. This will include the continued development of energy-efficient, high-energy, high-average-power commercially competitive lasers, maintaining the UK’s current international leadership in this technology.

• Target development: Fusion target precision mass-manufacturing is an area with huge potential and many unanswered questions. UPLIFT will develop and grow the well-established team within the CLF’s Target Fabrication Group to expand the UK’s expertise in ultra-precision high-value manufacturing to encompass fusion relevant target design, exploring the potential for mass manufacture ​

• The Physics of high-gain laser fusion: Uplift will coordinate a wider team of specialists from across the academic community. This team, from across the UK, at the CLF, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, University of Warwick and the University of York, will develop advanced high-gain implosion designs using benchmarked state-of-the-art simulation codes. These designs and codes will be used to help inform the laser and target development.