fusion plasma instabilities tagged posts

Magnetic perturbations in a fusion plasma are shown. Credit: Gerrit Kramer

Physicists led by Gerrit Kramer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have conducted simulations that suggest that applying magnetic fields to fusion plasmas can control instabilities known as Alfvén waves that can reduce the efficiency of fusion reactions. Such instabilities can cause quickly moving charged particles called “fast ions” to escape from the core of the plasma, which is corralled within machines known as tokamaks. Controlling these instabilities leads to higher temperatures within tokamaks and thus more efficient fusion processes.

“Controlling and suppressing the instabilities helps improve the fast-ion confinement and plasma performance,” said Kramer, a r...