Zap Energy

Century is the centerpiece of Zap Energy's program developing and integrating power handling systems suitable for future power plants. Three primary technologies under development include high average-power repetitive pulsed power, high duty-cycle cathodes, and liquid metal wall systems. Century is capable of firing non-reacting hydrogen SFS Z-pinch plasmas into a liquid metal-lined container at sustained repetition rates on the order of 0.2 Hz. Century is based on FuZE device designs but is not operated with deuterium fuel gas in order to alleviate the need for radiation shielding from fusion byproducts. The pulsed power driver and liquid metal heat exchanger are both designed to sustain input powers of 100 kW.

The Fusion Z-pinch Experiment 3 (FuZE-3) investigates compression methods for a sheared-flow-stabilized Z pinch. The device leverages multiple electrodes to inject magnetic flux around the pinch, thereby increasing the pinch current and decreasing pinch radius. FuZE-3 was commissioned at Zap Energy in 2025, demonstrating >1 GPa plasma pressures including multiple repeated shots with electron densities in the range of 3-5x10^24 m-3 and electron temperatures above 1 keV in early science campaigns.

The Fusion Z-pinch Experiment Q (FuZE-Q) is Zap Energy's 2nd generation machine and the 4th generation of SFS Z-pinch machines. FuZE-Q was the first system designed and built fully by Zap Energy. The plasma chamber is similar in scale to its predecessors but incorporates a modular design and the ability to more easily modify components. The machine also allows more advanced gas injection configurations and diagnostics access. FuZE-Q was commissioned in 2022 and operates in a two-electrode configuration using pulsed power banks with significantly larger stored energy (1 MJ+) than used for previous SFS Z-pinch machines. The higher level of stored energy opens up new operating regimes, both in terms of peak power delivered and by extending the duration of the plasma pulse to approximately 100 us. As of 2023, FuZE-Q has demonstrated peak plasma currents above 600 kA and D-D neutron yields above 10^10. FuZE-Q has undergone a series of upgrades to its pulsed power driver to access higher operating voltage.