Hydrogen–boron fusion draws interest because it could release energy with negligible neutron yield compared with deuterium–tritium, easing safety and waste concerns and fitting long-term cleaner-fusion narratives. Short-pulse, high-power lasers allow teams to heat and compress boron-bearing targets in the laboratory and to use charged fusion products—mainly α-particles—as indicators of reaction efficiency. Recent work emphasizes target geometry: moving from flat foils to closed, pellet-like geometries can increase yields by up to two orders of magnitude and shift product energies in line with stronger confinement. Clearer identification of fusion signatures in a noisy laser–plasma environment, together with large-scale simulations, links self-generated magnetic fields and particle motion to the measurements. In parallel, complementary experiments yield the first multi-megabar Hugoniot data for hexagonal boron nitride, in agreement with first-principles modeling, tightening the equation of state for boron-rich matter at pressures relevant to fusion and high energy density science. Together, these lines of work weave laser campaigns, target design, and material data into a clearer picture of hydrogen–boron fusion—still far from reactors, but with practical levers—geometry, diagnostics, and models—for next steps.

Dimitri Batani is Full Professor of Exceptional Class at the University of Bordeaux, France, and conducts his research at CELIA (Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications). He is a member of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC), a Fellow of the European Physical Society (EPS), and a senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF); he received the Friedel–Volterra Prize from the Italian and French Physical Societies. His research spans laser-produced plasmas, high energy density physics, plasma diagnostics, and inertial confinement fusion (ICF), with emphasis on shock ignition and on diagnostics and experiments related to the LMJ and PETAL high-power laser systems. He has coordinated major European initiatives, including EUROFUSION enabling research projects and the EquipEx PETAL+ program for advanced plasma diagnostics, and he chaired COST Action MP1208. He has published more than 700 articles in leading journals, including Physical Review Letters, Nuclear Fusion, and Nature Communications. According to Google Scholar, his h-index is 48 and his publications have received more than 8,400 citations.