New Plasma Platform Positions New Mexico for Leadership in Advanced Energy, Testing

New Plasma Platform Positions New Mexico for Leadership in Advanced Energy, Testing

A technology developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory is exploring a different approach to creating the extreme conditions needed for nuclear fusion. The Plasma Liner Experiment, or PLX, earned the Laboratory’s 2025 Entrepreneur Spirit honor for its progress toward potential fusion and commercial applications.

Fusion produces energy by forcing atoms together under extremely high temperatures and pressures, replicating processes that power stars. PLX uses Plasma-Jet-Driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion, a hybrid approach developed at Los Alamos in 2010 that combines elements of magnetic and inertial confinement fusion.

Rather than relying on massive lasers or large superconducting magnets, PLX fires dozens of high-speed plasma jets inward simultaneously. The jets form a spherical plasma liner that compresses a magnetized plasma target at the center, creating conditions suitable for fusion research. The approach could offer a more compact, flexible, and scalable platform than some traditional fusion systems.

The PLX team has also been exploring applications beyond long-term fusion energy. Through the UC-LANL Entrepreneur Postdoc Accelerator program, researchers conducted customer-discovery interviews with stakeholders and identified interest in using the platform for cost-effective fusion energy research and experimental validation of fusion technologies.

That work helped the team identify potential near-term applications while continuing to advance the technology toward its larger fusion-energy goals. The project has also made progress toward Department of Energy ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy) technology-to-market objectives, including four intellectual property disclosures: two patent applications and two software systems used to control and operate the platform.

Customer-discovery efforts have led to partnership discussions involving potential relocation and commercial deployment of the system. Those discussions have progressed to license negotiations, potential Strategic Partnership Projects, and technical assistance to support technology transition in New Mexico.

If successfully commercialized, PLX could contribute to New Mexico’s emergence as a hub for next-generation fusion research and support high-skilled technical jobs and industry partnerships. More broadly, the platform represents another step in Los Alamos’ efforts to advance fusion technology and explore practical pathways toward its eventual use.

Originally published in the 2025 Annual Report for Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Richard P. Feynman Center for Innovation.