Status of inertial fusion

The technology advancement to high-power beams has also given birth to new technologies. That class of Free Electron Lasers that employs rf linacs, synchrotrons, and storage rings - although the use the tools of High Energy Physics (HEP) - was developed well behind the kinetic energy frontier. The induction linac, however, is something of an exception; it was born directly from the needs of the magnetic fusion program, and was not motivated by a high-energy physics application. The heavy-ion approach to inertial fusion starts with picking from the rich menu of accelerator technologies those that have, ab initio, the essential ingredients needed for a power plant driver: multigap acceleration - which leads to reliability/lifetime; electrical efficiency; repetition rate; and beams that can be reliably focused over a suitably long distance. The report describes the programs underway in Heavy Ion Fusion Accelerator Research as well as listing expected advances in driver, target, and beam quality areas in the inertial fusion power program