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.
The sun's fusion reactions drive its temperatures to thousands of degrees, and today scientists are seeking to recreate these star-powering processes in the lab as a means of an alternative clean energy.
Nanophysics
Aug 8, 2024
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162
Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have retrospectively confirmed that implosion asymmetry was a major aspect of fusion experiments before achieving ignition for the first time at the Lab's National ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 7, 2024
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148
Our future energy may depend on high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wires. This technology's ability to carry electricity without resistance at temperatures higher than those required by traditional superconductors could ...
Superconductivity
Aug 7, 2024
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261
Mayonnaise continues to help researchers better understand the physics behind nuclear fusion.
General Physics
Aug 6, 2024
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978
Some believe the future of fusion in the U.S. lies in compact, spherical fusion vessels. A smaller tokamak, it is thought, could offer a more economical fusion option. The trick is squeezing everything into a small space. ...
Plasma Physics
Aug 6, 2024
5
250
If net-positive fusion energy is to ever be achieved, density is key: the more atomic nuclei crashing into each other, the more efficient the reaction will be. Nearly 40 years ago, Martin Greenwald identified a density limit ...
Plasma Physics
Jul 30, 2024
1
199
A team of researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has made advancements in understanding and resolving the long-standing "drive-deficit" problem in indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. ...
Plasma Physics
Jul 23, 2024
1
202
When it comes to promising forms of energy, nuclear fusion checks all the boxes: it's clean, abundant, continuous and safe. It's produced when the lightweight nuclei of two atoms fuse together to form a heavier nucleus, releasing ...
Plasma Physics
Jul 17, 2024
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203
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have reported advancements in understanding plasma pressure profiles within flow-stabilized Z-pinch fusion, a candidate for achieving net gain fusion energy in a ...
Plasma Physics
Jul 11, 2024
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178
Researchers at European XFEL have developed an innovative method to study warm dense matter with unprecedented accuracy. This kind of matter, that exists between condensed matter and plasma physics, can be found, for example, ...
Condensed Matter
Jul 11, 2024
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120
