Quelle: C. Deguchi; Figure 1: participants of the 20th DDFI workshop at GSI

Between May19^th and 22^nd 2025, GSI hosted the 20^th Direct Drive and Fast Ignition Workshop (DDFIW), where more than 90 scientists from various European countries and China gathered to discuss recent advances in laser-driven fusion. After the reported demonstration of fusion experiments with a gain greater than 4 at the National Ignition Facility in the USA this year, the prospect of producing energy out of laser-driven fusion is receiving a renewed interest in Europe and around the world. This could be seen via the attendance to the meeting, which increased significantly compared to the previous years. New projects exploring the pathways to fusion energy are being funded both institutionally and privately in many European countries, including Germany, and the workshop plays an essential role for the exchange of ideas and coordination of activities. The workshop was the occasion for GSI scientists to present the FLARE facility project and other recent fusion-relevant work done with PHELIX and discuss collaboration opportunities with the community.

Thank you again to everyone who came to the first post-doc get-together! It was great to see all of you and get to know all the different stories and experiences people at GSI have!

We'd now like to invite once again all post-docs at GSI to a second lunch get-together on the 4th of June at 12:00 in the sideroom of the canteen! Bring your lunch and take the opportunity to socialize and get to know each other. We hope to make this a monthly event, but don't take this as an excuse to procrastinate 😉

We'd also like to announce that we have a mailing list now! You can subscribe via this link or on this website or via the QR code in the picture to the right.

Looking forward to seeing you,
Ronja, Marta, and Penny