The energy released when two atomic nuclei fuse together. This process powers the sun and stars. Read more
Scientists have created a novel method for measuring the stability of a soup of ultra-hot and electrically charged atomic particles, or plasma, in fusion facilities called “tokamaks.” Involving an innovative use of a mathematical tool, the method might lead to a technique for stabilizing plasma and making fusion reactions more efficient.
Scientists have created a novel method for measuring the stability of a soup of ultra-hot and electrically charged atomic particles, or plasma, in fusion facilities called “tokamaks.” Involving an innovative use of a mathematical tool, the method might lead to a technique for stabilizing plasma and making fusion reactions more efficient.
Lithium, the light silvery metal used in everything from pharmaceutical applications to batteries that power your smart phone or electric car, could also help harness on Earth the fusion energy that lights the sun and stars. Lithium can maintain the heat and protect the walls inside doughnut-shaped tokamaks that house fusion reactions, and will be used to produce tritium, the hydrogen isotope that will combine with its cousin deuterium to fuel fusion in future reactors.
Lithium, the light silvery metal used in everything from pharmaceutical applications to batteries that power your smart phone or electric car, could also help harness on Earth the fusion energy that lights the sun and stars. Lithium can maintain the heat and protect the walls inside doughnut-shaped tokamaks that house fusion reactions, and will be used to produce tritium, the hydrogen isotope that will combine with its cousin deuterium to fuel fusion in future reactors.
Artificial intelligence (AI), a branch of computer science that is transforming scientific inquiry and industry, could now speed the development of safe, clean and virtually limitless fusion energy for generating electricity. A major step in this direction is under way at the U.S.
Scientists open a bold new chapter in fusion research.
Physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have discovered valuable information about how electrically charged gas known as “plasma” flows at the edge inside doughnut-shaped fusion devices called “tokamaks.” The findings mark an encouraging sign for the development of machines to produce fusion energy for generating electricity without creating long-term hazardous waste.
To capture and control on Earth the fusion reactions that drive the sun and stars, researchers must first turn room-temperature gas into the hot, charged plasma that fuels the reactions. At the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), scientists have conducted an analysis that confirms the effectiveness of a novel, non-standard way for starting up plasma in future compact fusion facilities.
To capture and control on Earth the fusion reactions that drive the sun and stars, researchers must first turn room-temperature gas into the hot, charged plasma that fuels the reactions. At the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), scientists have conducted an analysis that confirms the effectiveness of a novel, non-standard way for starting up plasma in future compact fusion facilities.
Can tokamak fusion facilities, the most widely used devices for harvesting on Earth the fusion reactions that power the sun and stars, be developed more quickly to produce safe, clean, and virtually limitless energy for generating electricity? Physicist Jon Menard of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has examined that question in a detailed look at the concept of a compact tokamak equipped with high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets.
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory managed by Princeton University.
Website suggestions and feedback
Pinterest · Instagram · LinkedIn · Tumblr.
Princeton University Institutional Compliance Program
Privacy Policy · Sign In (for staff)
© 2019 Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. All rights reserved.
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
P.O. Box 451
Princeton, NJ 08543-0451
GPS: 100 Stellarator Road
Princeton, NJ, 08540
(609) 243-2000
