One way to improve a fusion reaction: Use weaknesses as strengths
In the Japanese art of Kintsugi, an artist takes the broken shards of a bowl and fuses them back together with gold to make a final product more beautiful than the original.
In the Japanese art of Kintsugi, an artist takes the broken shards of a bowl and fuses them back together with gold to make a final product more beautiful than the original.
Condensed Matter
Mar 5, 2024
1
31
In the blink of an eye, the unruly, superheated plasma that drives a fusion reaction can lose its stability and escape the strong magnetic fields confining it within the donut-shaped fusion reactor. These getaways frequently ...
Plasma Physics
Feb 21, 2024
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97
Humans may never be able to tame the sun, but hydrogen plasma—making up most of the sun's interior—can be confined in a magnetic field as part of fusion power generation: with a caveat.
Plasma Physics
Jul 27, 2023
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300
Imagine the explosive disturbance caused by a jet going supersonic. A similar shock wave occurs when subatomic particles known as "solar wind" flow from the sun and strike the Earth's magnetic field. Now, scientists have ...
Plasma Physics
Jun 27, 2023
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1167
To produce commercial energy, future fusion power plants will need to achieve temperatures of 100 million degrees C. To do so requires careful control of the plasma. In a study published in the journal Nuclear Fusion, researchers ...
Plasma Physics
May 30, 2023
3
287
A magnetic cage keeps the more than 100 million degree Celsius hot plasmas in nuclear fusion devices at a distance from the vessel wall so that they do not melt. Now researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics ...
Plasma Physics
Apr 11, 2023
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195
Nuclear fusion has drawn attention in the era of carbon neutrality because it produces no carbon emission or radioactive waste.
Plasma Physics
Nov 8, 2022
1
290
Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have proposed the source of the sudden and puzzling collapse of heat that precedes disruptions that can damage doughnut-shaped ...
Plasma Physics
Sep 27, 2022
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1227
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have found a way to build powerful magnets smaller than before, aiding the design and construction of machines that could help ...
Superconductivity
Jul 25, 2022
1
703
Investigation of a possibly critical issue with twisty magnetic stellarators, promising candidates to serve as models for a U.S. fusion pilot plant, has clarified the potential impact of a largely overlooked concern.
Plasma Physics
Jul 12, 2022
0
507