  The world Heavy Ion Fusion (HIF) Program for inertial fusion energy is
looking toward the development and commissioning of several new experiments.
Recent and planned upgrades of the facilities at GSI, in Russia, and in Japan
greatly enhance the ability to study energy deposition in hot dense matter.
Worldwide target design developments have focused on non-ignition targets for
nearterm experiments and designs which, while lowering the energy required for
ignition, tighten accelerator requirements. The U.S program is transitioning
between scaled beam dynamics experiments and high current experiments with
power-plant-driver-scale beams. Current effort is aimed at preparation for the
next-step large facility, the Integrated Research Experiment (IRE)-- an
induction linac accelerating multiple beams to a few hundred MeV, then focusing
to deliver tens of kilojoules to a target. The goal is to study heavy ion
energy deposition, and to test all of the components and physics needed for an
engineering test of a power plant driver and target chamber. This paper will
include an overview of the Heavy Ion Fusion program abroad and a more in-depth
view of the progress and plans of the U.S. program.
