More than 80 attendees recently gathered at the University of California (UC) Livermore Collaboration Center for the Innovative Concepts for Inertial Fusion Energy (IC-IFE) 2026 International Physics Workshop.
Hosted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and UC San Diego, the three-day conference was supported by the Japan-U.S. Collaboration Program in Fusion Physics.
Throughout the workshop, attendees focused on ideas at the boundary of fusion science, concepts that are innovative but higher risk and schemes that are often overlooked. The schedule was packed with presentations, discussions and poster sessions, along with a banquet.
LLNL Director Kim Budil welcomed attendees on the second morning of the conference. She emphasized that there is plenty of space for more than one winning approach to fusion.
"[Ignition] was a signature moment for us to come together as a community and see what we can make of this incredible advance," she said. "This is not a moment to pick winners or pick favorites, or for the community to fragment. It's a real opportunity to do something extraordinary that even a decade ago seemed impossible."
Topics and approaches ranged from ion stopping power and transport, hydrodynamic implosions, ion acceleration and ion fast ignition to heavy ion fusion, shock ignition, magnetized inertial confinement fusion and electron fast ignition.
Drew Higginson, physicist and associate division leader at LLNL, and Scott Wilks, recently retired from LLNL, were part of the scientific committee that organized the event.
"We wanted to provide the time and space for people in these fields to come together and think about big ideas that have powerful potential," said Higginson. "With approaches that are innovative and less-developed, our goal was to create a dedicated opportunity for connection and collaboration."
"There are two things that I'm hoping that we can get from this. One is that it stimulates a lot of new ideas and new directions for people to pursue," said Wilks. "I also really hope that it acts as a seed for future efforts into making a facility or a hub that's devoted to innovative fusion concepts."
During the event, Clément Goyon, the science, technology and engineering lead for the Livermore Institute for Fusion Technology (LIFT), provided an overview of LIFT and its mission to connect the fusion ecosystem to the research and resources at LLNL. He emphasized that ideas should not be discarded simply because they have not been well-tested.
"LLNL remains the only lab on Earth to achieve controlled fusion ignition, and from that we have a lot of expertise and experience to share," he said. "LIFT is supportive of all viable fusion-energy approaches and excited to help the private sector move faster by accessing the Lab's unique capabilities and talent."
Attendees traveled from around the world to attend the meeting, including delegations from Japan and Europe focused on fast ignition. The event organizers hope to hold similar meetings in the future, possibly with a rotating international host.
