Scientists Propose a Novel Method for Controlling Fusion Reactions

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Scientists propose a novel method for controlling fusion reactions:

Scientists have found a novel way to prevent pesky magnetic bubbles in plasma from interfering with fusion reactions -- delivering a potential way to improve the performance of fusion energy devices. And it comes from managing radio frequency (RF) waves to stabilize the magnetic bubbles, which can expand and create disruptions that can limit the performance of ITER, the international facility under construction in France to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion power.

[...] The new model predicts that depositing the [radio frequency] rays in pulses rather than steady state streams can overcome the leakage problem, said Suying Jin, a graduate student in the Princeton Program in Plasma Physics based at PPPL and lead author of a paper that describes the method in Physics of Plasmas. "Pulsing also can achieve increased stabilization in high-damping cases for the same average power," she said.

For this process to work, "the pulsing must be done at a rate that is neither too fast nor too slow," she said. "This sweet spot should be consistent with the rate that heat dissipates from the island through diffusion."

The new model draws upon past work by Jin's co-authors and advisors Allan Reiman, a Distinguished Research Fellow at PPPL, and Professor Nat Fisch, director of the Program in Plasma Physics at Princeton University and associate director for academic affairs at PPPL.

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