In addition to our own progress in 2025, which we have already reported, there were two major developments in the fusion energy field.
In research closely related to ours, Prof. Dieter Hoffman of Xi’An Jiatong University reported achieving a new record in hydrogen-boron fusion yield using the Mianyang laser on a solid target. They used one laser to produce a proton beam while another laser irradiated a boron target to produce a plasma target for the beam. They achieved a fusion yield of 0.28 J for a device energy input of roughly 80 kJ. This makes their fusion-energy to input-energy ratio almost exactly what LPPFusion has achieved with deuterium. The results are particularly important because they show orders of magnitude more fusion energy output than would be calculated for a beam focused on a solid target, indicating the relevance of various theorized enhancements to fusion yield, including the Quantum Magnetic Field Effect described by LPPFusion’s own research.
The other major development was the record confinement times of over 1,000 seconds achieved almost simultaneously by China’s EAST tokamak and France’s WEST tokamak. In both cases, for the first time, the devices’ active feedback controls succeed in confining the plasma for considerably longer than would be expected for a natural plasma. In the case of EAST, the plasma was confined for about 8 times as long as for a plasma without feedback control and for WEST, nearly 100 times as long. The achievement at WEST was greater as the ion temperature was much higher, about 4.5 keV (equivalent to 50 million K) as compared to 0.7 keV for East. Confinement times decrease with increasing temperature in natural plasmas.
The tokamak achievement opens the prospect of these devices reaching net energy with DT fuel in not too many years. However, researchers would still have to resolve very serious problems with using tritium, including neutron damage of the structures themselves. As well, the size of tokamaks and the costs of energy conversion would make it impossible for them to produce energy cheaper than existing energy sources. For that, only devices that produce dense hydrogen-boron plasmas—like our own DPF device—will do the job.
The WEST tokamak in Cadarache, France, broke confinement records in 2025