Plasma fusion as a research area investigates the conditions and processes required to achieve controlled thermonuclear fusion in ionized gases, focusing on confinement, stability, heating, and transport phenomena in high-temperature plasmas. It encompasses magnetic confinement (e.g., tokamaks, stellarators), inertial confinement (laser- or particle-beam driven), and alternative concepts, integrating plasma physics, nuclear physics, materials science, and advanced diagnostics. Key objectives include understanding turbulence, instabilities, and non-linear interactions that govern energy and particle confinement, optimizing reactor-relevant regimes such as H-mode, and developing predictive models to guide the design of fusion devices aimed at net energy gain and ultimately practical fusion power production.
Heating a plasma for fusion research requires megawatts of power. One approach that research tokamaks use to achieve the necessary power input is neutral beam injection (NBI). With NBI, fast neutral particles are generated ...
Plasma Physics
Oct 25, 2024
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Fusion energy has the potential to be an effective clean energy source, as its reactions generate incredibly large amounts of energy. Fusion reactors aim to reproduce on Earth what happens in the core of the sun, where very ...
Plasma Physics
Oct 21, 2024
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Future fusion power plants will require good plasma confinement to sustain reactions and generate energy. One way to contain plasma for fusion reactions is to use a tokamak, a device that applies magnetic fields to "bottle" ...
Plasma Physics
Oct 15, 2024
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New artificial intelligence (AI) models for plasma heating can do more than was previously thought possible, not only increasing the prediction speed 10 million times while preserving accuracy, but also correctly predicting ...
Plasma Physics
Oct 9, 2024
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In fusion experiments, understanding the behavior of the plasma, especially the ion temperature and rotation velocity, is essential. These two parameters play a critical role in the stability and performance of the plasma, ...
Plasma Physics
Oct 8, 2024
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Fusion researchers are increasingly turning to the element tungsten when looking for an ideal material for components that will directly face the plasma inside fusion reactors known as tokamaks and stellarators. But under ...
Plasma Physics
Oct 7, 2024
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Like atoms coming together to release their power, fusion researchers worldwide are joining forces to solve the world's energy crisis. Harnessing the power of fusing plasma as a reliable energy source for the power grid is ...
Plasma Physics
Sep 30, 2024
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A study led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory details how artificial intelligence researchers have created an AI model to help identify new alloys used as shielding for housing fusion applications ...
General Physics
Sep 19, 2024
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Magnetic confinement fusion devices are technologies that can attain controlled nuclear fusion reactions, using magnetic fields to confine hot plasmas. These devices could contribute to the ongoing transition towards more ...
Inside the next generation of fusion vessels known as spherical tokamaks, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) envisioned a hot region with flowing liquid metal that is ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 21, 2024
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