Our two-year upgrade of this facility, a smaller version of tokamaks such as our National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U), has added powerful neutral beam heating to the world’s first  plasma confinement experiment with full liquid metal plasma-facing components (PFCs). The upgrade aims to test the ability of liquid lithium to continue to improve performance with hotter, denser plasmas.

The LTX-beta is a key part of PPPL’s efforts to explore the benefits of liquid metal to improve performance, and to safeguard the components of fusion facilities from the extreme heat that they will encounter. LTX-beta results have been promising, and may lead to more extensive use of liquid lithium in NSTX-U. PPPL also coordinates a national program to unify research on liquid metal for future tokamaks and has conducted liquid metal experiments on tokamaks in Europe and Asia.