Laser and ion beam inertial fusion research has made remarkable progress during the last two years. As a highlight of the 22nd IAEA Fusion Energy Conference among over 30 presentations the National Ignition Facility has been reported for completion as of 27 March 2009 to achieve the first fusion shot within 2010 or 2011 with a central ignition scheme. The LFEX and OMEGA-EP fast ignition lasers have also been completed to start fast ignition feasibility studies as early as in 2009. Relativistic physics revealed many new findings on hot electron energy transport and production. For example, several proposals have been reported to control the hot electron divergence angle. Laser technology has challenged to meet the specification required for fast ignition experiments such as in the LFEX and OMEGA-EP. Target development is making steady progress to be ready for the forthcoming fast ignition integral and ion beam experiments. The LIFE engine (Laser Inertial-Confinement Fusion Fission Energy) was announced from the USA to accelerate the energy production making use of the NIF type fusion outputs in order to prepare for 'beyond the ignition' as early as 2020. KOYO-F from Osaka University, Z-machine and HiPER European projects have been reported.
激光和离子束惯性约束聚变研究在过去两年中取得了显著进展。作为第22届IAEA聚变能源会议40余篇报告中的亮点之一，国家点火装置（NIF）据报道已于2009年3月27日建成，目标是在2010年或2011年实现采用中心点火方案的首次聚变点火实验。LFEX和OMEGA-EP高速点火激光装置也已完成建设，最早于2009年开始开展高速点火可行性研究。相对论物理在热电子产生与输运方面揭示了诸多新发现，例如，已有多项关于控制热电子发散角的方案被报道。激光技术正面临满足高速点火实验要求的挑战，如LFEX和OMEGA-EP装置中的相关要求。靶制备技术正在稳步推进，为即将开展的高速点火集成实验和离子束实验做好准备。美国方面宣布了LIFE（激光惯性约束聚变裂变能源）引擎计划，旨在利用NIF型聚变输出来加速能源生产，目标最早于2020年实现“超越点火”。此外，日本大阪大学的KOYO-F、美国Z机器以及欧洲HiPER项目也均有相关报道。