Stellarators

As excitement builds around the first plasma, scheduled for December, on the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) experiment in Greifswald, Germany, PPPL physicist Sam Lazerson can boast that he has already achieved results.

Lazerson, who has been working at the site since March, mapped the structure of the magnetic field, proving that the main magnet system is working as intended.  This was achieved using the trim coils that PPPL designed and had built in the United States. He presented his research at the APS Division of Plasma Physics Conference in Savannah, Georgia, on Nov. 18. 

The completion of the $94 million National Spherical Torus-Upgrade (NSTX-U) will usher in a decade of research that will lead to vital results for the international and national fusion programs and could lead the way to a next-step fusion facility, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Director Stewart Prager told staff members in his annual “State of the Laboratory” address on Oct. 5.

Steve Raftopoulos is a lifelong “tinkerer” who has always found joy in building things and who loves his job at PPPL because it allows him to do just that. Now he’s bringing that sense of fun to a serious job as head of the team of engineers who help create the coils and other components of PPPL’s experiments.

Hutch Neilson, PPPL’s head of Advanced Projects, is saying “auf wiedersehen” to the Lab for the next nine months as he travels to Greifswald, Germany, where he will be paving the way for future U.S. researchers to participate on the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) program as the experiment begins preparing for operations next year.

David Gates, a principal research physicist and the stellarator physics leader at PPPL, will be serving as Interim Head of Advanced Projects in Neilson’s absence.