Helion Energy was founded in 2013 by David Kirtley, John Slough, Chris Pihl and George Votroubek. Slough is the co-founder most tied to the science side of the company, and he is listed as its chief science officer.
His published work predates Helion. In 2008 he co-authored a paper in the Journal of Fusion Energy with Votroubek, Andreason and Pihl on forming a stable field-reversed configuration through merging. In 2011 he co-authored a Nuclear Fusion paper with Votroubek and Pihl on making high-temperature plasma by merging and compressing plasmoids.
Helion's generator design grew out of inductive plasmoid accelerator experiments run between 2005 and 2012. The approach pushes two plasmas together at high speed and compresses them until fusion conditions form.
Slough is also an inventor on patent EP 3103119, an advanced D-3He fuel cycle for a pulsed fusion reactor. The patent is assigned to Helion Energy and was published on 24 March 2021. Kirtley, not Slough, leads the company as CEO.