Roadmap

Xcimer is building toward commercial fusion energy through four major milestones:
Phoenix (2026, Denver): Demonstration of core laser technology and laser architecture.
Anvil (2028, Denver): 200 kJ, two-sided inertial fusion energy (IFE) excimer beamline demonstrator. Anvil will use Argos laser modules, the largest laser amplifiers in the world and the first production units that will be used in a commercial laser fusion facility.
Vulcan (2031, site TBD): An engineering (wall-plug) breakeven demonstration – combining many Argos laser modules to achieve 4 MJ of laser light on-target and demonstrate net energy gain from laser fusion for the first time. Vulcan will be the world’s largest laser, and upgradeable up to 12 MJ of laser energy (6x larger than NIF).
Athena (2035, site TBD): The first laser fusion power plant, delivering 400 MW of electricity to the grid.

Wall-plug breakeven means a fusion machine produces more electricity than it consumes to operate — including all the energy used to power components like a laser. NIF achieved scientific breakeven (more energy from the fusion fuel than laser energy input), but not yet wall-plug breakeven. Xcimer’s Vulcan system is designed to achieve this milestone by 2031.

Xcimer’s economics are driven by several interrelated advantages: a 30x reduction in laser cost per joule versus NIF; larger, higher-gain fuel capsules; lower repetition rates; and a self-protecting liquid lithium salt chamber that minimizes maintenance. Together these make a commercial fusion power plant economically competitive with fossil fuels and superior to intermittent renewables.

Xcimer’s roadmap to wall-plug breakeven by 2031 and grid power by 2035 is among the most aggressive in the industry — and uniquely grounded in experimentally validated science. Xcimer builds on NIF’s proven ignition results rather than unproven plasma confinement physics, which reduces technical risk significantly.

Yes. Xcimer’s laser technology has significant national security applications, including Nuclear Weapons Effects Testing (NWET) and stockpile stewardship. The Xcimer laser is expected to contribute to full-system survivability testing that will rival the capability of pre-1992 underground nuclear tests — without returning to underground testing. Directed energy applications are also in development.