Launching fusion reactions without a central magnet, or solenoid
Saturday, October 29, 2016 - 05:21
in Physics & Chemistry
The tokamak is an experimental chamber that holds a gas of energetic charged particles, plasma, for developing energy production from nuclear fusion. Most large tokamaks create the plasma with solenoids. But future tokamaks must do without solenoids, which run in short pulses rather than for weeks or months at a time as commercial fusion power plants will have to do. Recent computer simulations have now suggested a novel method for launching the plasma without using solenoids.