Hundred million degree fluid key to fusion

Scientists developing fusion energy experiments have solved a puzzle of why their million-degree heating beams sometimes fail, and instead destabilise the fusion experiments before energy is generated.

Controlling ITER with fuelers, ticklers, and terminators

When it's up and running, the ITER fusion reactor will be very big and very hot, with more than 800 cubic meters of hydrogen plasma reaching 170 million degrees centigrade. The systems that fuel and control it, on the other ...

Carbon nanostructures grow under extreme particle bombardment

(Phys.org) —Nanostructures, such as graphene and carbon nanotubes, can develop under far extremer plasma conditions than was previously thought. Plasmas (hot, charged gases) are already widely used to produce interesting ...

Plasma experiment demonstrates admirable self-control

A team of Chinese and American scientists has learned how to maintain high fusion performance under steady conditions by exploiting a characteristic of the plasma itself: the plasma self-generates much of the electrical current ...

Making industrial plasma safer

(Phys.org) —EPFL scientists have uncovered the physics behind the formation of plasmoids – funnel-like, high-energy plasmas that can severely damage industrial plasma reactors, causing millions in repairs and lost productivity ...

The solar wind is swirly

(Phys.org)—Using ESA's Cluster quartet of satellites as a space plasma microscope, scientists have zoomed in on the solar wind to reveal the finest detail yet, finding tiny turbulent swirls that could play a big role in ...

One step closer to controlling nuclear fusion

Using a heating system, physicists have succeeded for the first time in preventing the development of instabilities in an efficient alternative way relevant to a future nuclear fusion reactor. It’s an important step ...

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