Alison

Biography:

Alison Christopherson is the Head of Target Design at Xcimer Energy Corp.where she leads the development of high‑gain direct‑drive targets for next‑generation excimer‑laser–driven inertial fusion energy systems.

She earned her B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, specializing in direct‑drive inertial confinement fusion. Her doctoral work advanced understanding of alpha particle heating and ignition, earning her the Rosenbluth Award for excellence in plasma physics.

She went on to serve as a staff scientist in the Inertial Confinement Fusion program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory during the period when ignition was first achieved. Her experience at LLNL reinforced a key conclusion: solid‑state laser architectures face fundamental scaling limits for the energy levels required to produce robust, high‑gain targets and to accommodate the engineering concessions of a fusion power plant. Motivated by the promise of gas‑optics–based excimer technology, she joined Xcimer to lead its its target design program and shape the physics basis for the company’s fusion roadmap.

Address:Xcimer Energy Corporation - Headquarters & Laser Facility, 10325 East 47th Avenue,, Denver, Colorado, United States, 80238