Solutions for Photonic Approaches to Fusion Energy

Fusion energy research has historically been dominated by plasma physics and nuclear engineering. Yet, photons—their transport, interactions, and engineered confinement—offer a parallel avenue to address key barriers in fusion. This paper develops a mathematical framework for analyzing fusion energy problems from a photonic perspective. We identify three classes of solutions: photon transport in dense plasmas, radiative instabilities in laser-driven systems, and optimization of photonic structures for confinement. For each, we propose analytic and numerical solutions that may enable new approaches to energy gain, confinement efficiency, and radiative control in future reactors.