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On the 17th of April 2014 a group of students and PhD students from Groningen University („T.F.V. ‘Professor Francken’”) visited IPPLM. Young people, students of applied physics, were welcomed by Prof. Jerzy Wołowski, deputy director for research. A short introduction to nuclear fusion and works performed at IPPLM were presented by Dr. Piotr Rączka. During and after the presentation many questions were asked and the discussion turned into a very fruitful one. Our guests learnt more about magnetic confinement fusion as well as inertial confinement fusion. Dr. P. Rączka focused also on the IPPLM involvement in the European projects related to fusion and tasks performed by the local researchers.

We could also listen to two lectures, namely “Enhancing molecular switching efficiency by co-tunnelling in Coulomb blockaded molecule-nanoparticle networks” by Sander Block, PhD at the University of Leiden at the Department of Condensed Matter Physics, and “Switchable self-cleaning surfaces: a computational approach” by Edwin de Jong, PhD at the University of Groningen at the Department of Micro Mechanics. After the lectures, the guests had a chance to visit IPPLM’s laboratories, that is DPF1000U, PlanS, and 10TW Laser Laboratory. It was pleasure to host a group of passionate physics students who came in white and red ties on the occasion of their stay in Poland.

Completion of a promising experimental facility at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Laboratory (PPPL) could advance the development of fusion as a clean and abundant source of energy for generating electricity, according to a PPPL paper published this month in the journal IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science.

The facility, called the Quasi-Axisymmetric Stellarator Research (QUASAR) experiment, represents the first of a new class of fusion reactors based on the innovative theory of quasi-axisymmetry, which makes it possible to design a magnetic bottle that combines the advantages of the stellarator with the more widely used tokamak design. Experiments in QUASAR would test this theory. Construction of QUASAR—originally known as the National Compact Stellarator Experiment—was begun in 2004 and halted in 2008 when costs exceeded projections after some 80 percent of the machine's major components had been built or procured.

"This type of facility must have a place on the roadmap to fusion," said physicist George "Hutch" Neilson, the head of the Advanced Projects Department at PPPL.

Both stellarators and tokamaks use magnetic fields to control the hot, charged plasma gas that fuels fusion reactions. While tokamaks put electric current into the plasma to complete the magnetic confinement and hold the gas together, stellarators don't require such a current to keep the plasma bottled up. Stellarators rely instead on twisting—or 3D —magnetic fields to contain the plasma in a controlled "steady state."

Stellarator plasmas thus run little risk of disrupting—or falling apart—as can happen in tokamaks if the internal current abruptly shuts off. Developing systems to suppress or mitigate such disruptions is a challenge that builders of tokamaks like ITER, the international fusion experiment under construction in France, must face. 

Stellarators had been the main line of fusion development in the 1950s and early 1960s before taking a back seat to tokamaks, whose symmetrical, doughnut-shaped magnetic field geometry produced good plasma confinement and proved easier to create. But breakthroughs in computing and physics understanding have revitalized interest in the twisty, cruller-shaped stellarator design and made it the subject of major experiments in Japan and Germany. 

PPPL developed the QUASAR facility with both stellarators and tokamaks in mind. Tokamaks produce magnetic fields and a plasma shape that are the same all the way around the axis of the machine—a feature known as "axisymmetry." QUASAR is symmetrical too, but in a different way. While QUASAR was designed to produce a twisting and curving magnetic field, the strength of that field varies gently as in a tokamak—hence the name "quasi-symmetry" (QS) for the design. This property of the field strength was to produce plasma confinement properties identical to those of tokamaks. 

"If the predicted near-equivalence in the confinement physics can be validated experimentally," Neilson said, "then the development of the QS line may be able to continue as essentially a '3D tokamak.'" 

Such development would test whether a QUASAR-like design could be a candidate for a demonstration—or DEMO —fusion facility that would pave the way for construction of a commercial fusion reactor that would generate electricity for the power grid.

Source: phys.org

The new App ‘Operation Tokamak’ invites gamers to have a go at realising fusion power. Being the operator of a fusion machine, players have to control the plasma by shaping the magnetic field, bring up the heat with the help of powerful microwaves and blast harmful magnetic islands away.

It goes without saying that the script of a game has different requirements than a fusion device. Therefore some simplifications were necessary to develop the gameplay of ‘Operation Tokamak’. Despite that the motivation of this game has been to give the player a sense of the essential requirements that make fusion happen. The biggest difference between the game and reality is certainly that in ‘Operation Tokamak’ fusion energy is produced regularly and widely in many countries. In reality about 40 fusion laboratories do research on how this goal can be achieved.

Operation Tokamak in the control room

In a real control room there is more than one actor to run an experiment which is carefully planned in advanced. For a start, there are two main players working hand in hand: The Session Leader and the Engineer-in-Charge. The Session Leader is in charge of the scientific aims of the experiment while the Engineer-in-Charge makes sure that the systems are functioning properly and are used safely – he or she will hit the stop button if the scientists are getting too creative.

The Session Leaders’ job starts some days ahead of their duty in the control room: They design the plasma pulses to achieve the experimental goals as defined by the Scientific Coordinator. This means setting the plasma parameters such as magnetic field, plasma current, or gas, planning the sequence of steps from the start through to the end of the pulse and defining the required heating power. Together with the Additional Heating Pilots, the Session Leader discusses the best strategy for when and how to apply the heating systems – for instance, the powerful microwave systems also featured in ‘Operation Tokamak’. The Diagnostic Coordinators request all the measurement systems that are necessary to monitor the plasma and to record the experimental data.

The countdown begins

To begin a plasma pulse, the Power Supply Engineer starts JET’s two flywheel generators to build up hundreds of megawatts of power. Two nine meter wide steel wheels are set into a horizontal rotation and reach 225 rounds per minute – a spinning rate at which their edges rotate at a speed of 380 km/h. At the same time, The CODAS Duty Officers make sure that the computers and software are ready. A two and a half minute long countdown begins, urging all coordinators to ensure that their systems are ready. Once that is confirmed, the Engineer in Charge starts the pulse and the experiment is on. The magnetic field builds up. The heating pilots make sure that the microwave and particle beam systems to heat the plasma function correctly. The diagnostic coordinators monitor their systems to ensure the best quality of the experimental data.

Sorry, no shooting of instabilities in the control room

And the magnetic islands which players blast away in the game? Fusion scientists investigate various ways to mitigate these plasma instabilities. One of them is an automated feedback system. It picks up the magnetic islands thanks to their emission of tiny amounts of microwaves, automatically directs powerful microwaves at their spot and shrinks them to harmless size. Just like the players in ‘Operation Tokamak’.

You find lots of general and more in-depth information on our web site to get a better understanding of the real science is pursued in a mutual European effort.

But you are already prepared to run your own session in the ‘Operation Tokamak’ game. Find out how much energy you produced and how much CO₂ you saved. And do not forget to share your score with your friends on the Leaderboard on the EFDA website or on your private Facebook account. Tweet about it using #optok. Good luck!

Source: EFDA

ANN ARBOR—Inspired by the space physics behind solar flares and the aurora, a team of researchers from the University of Michigan and Princeton has uncovered a new kind of magnetic behavior that could help make nuclear fusion reactions easier to start.

Fusion is widely considered the ultimate goal of nuclear energy. While fission leaves behind radioactive waste that must be stored safely, fusion generates helium, a harmless element that is becoming scarce. Just 250 kilograms of fusion fuel can match the energy production of 2.7 million tons of coal.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get a fusion reaction going.

"We have to compress the fuel to a temperature and density similar to the core of a star," said Alexander Thomas, assistant professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences.

Once those conditions are reached, the hydrogen fuel begins to fuse into helium. This is how young stars burn, compressed by their own gravity.

On Earth, it takes so much power to push the fuel atoms together that researchers end up putting in more energy than they get out. But by understanding a newly discovered magnetic phenomenon, the team suggests that the ignition of nuclear fusion could be made more efficient.

Two methods dominate for confining the fuel, made of hydrogen atoms with extra neutrons, so that fusion can begin. Magnetic confinement fusion uses magnetic fields to trap the fuel in a magnetic 'bottle,' and inertial confinement fusion heats the surface of the fuel pellet until it blows off in a way that causes the remaining pellet to implode. The team explored an aspect of the latter method through computer simulations.

"One of the concerns with nuclear fusion is to squeeze this very spherical fuel pellet perfectly into a very small spherical pellet," said Archis Joglekar, a doctoral student in nuclear engineering and radiological sciences.

To avoid pushing the ball of fuel into an irregular shape that won't ignite, the fuel must be exposed to uniform heat that will cause its surface layer to evaporate all at once. As this layer pushes off at high speed, it applies equal pressure to all sides of the pellet and causes it to shrink to one thousandth of its original volume. When that happens, the fuel begins to fuse.

Joglekar calls even heating "the biggest concern in terms of achieving inertial confinement fusion."

The heat comes from about 200 laser beams hitting the inside of a hollow metal cylinder with the fuel pellet sitting at its heart. The trouble is that the light energy from the laser is converted to heat in the metal by way of electrons, and the electrons can get trapped in magnetic fields created by the laser spots.

When the laser light hits the metal, it turns some of the surface metal into plasma, or a soup of electrons and free atomic nuclei. The laser and the heat drive the electrons to move in a way that sets up a magnetic field circling the laser spot.

The magnetic field acts as a boundary for the electrons—they can't cross it. But until now, researchers didn't know that the hot electrons, in an effort to get to cooler areas, are able to push the magnetic fence outward.

The team showed that the flow of hot electrons could drive the magnetic fields around neighboring laser spots together, causing them to join up. Instead of forming a barrier between the laser spots, the joined fields open a channel between them.

"Now there's a clear path for the electrons to move into what would otherwise be the cold region," Joglekar said.

Designers of inertial fusion ignition systems may be able to use this newly discovered feature to place the laser spots so that they heat the cylinder more quickly and efficiently.

"Essentially, what we found is a completely new magnetic reconnection mechanism," Thomas said. "Though we're studying it in an inertial confinement fusion process, it might be relevant to the surface of the sun and magnetic confinement fusion."

For instance, knowing that the flow of hot, charged particles on the sun can push magnetic fields around could inspire new theories about how solar flares occur.

A paper on this work, titled "Magnetic reconnection in plasma under inertial confinement fusion conditions driven by heat flux effects in Ohm's law," is published in Physical Review Letters. It was carried out in collaboration with Amativa Bhattacharjee and William Fox of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

Source: www.ns.umich.edu

Vancouver is a land of scenic harbors, tall mountains and startups trying to harness the limits of physics.

In town for the TED conference, I had the occasion to visit two such companies yesterday:D-Wave and General Fusion. D-Wave, a quantum computing company, is all about the very cold and the rather tiny. It has built enormous refrigerators that each house a single chip, laced with “qubits” that can be in the superposition of both 1 and 0 at the same time and can carry an electric current with no resistance at low temperatures.

Meanwhile, General Fusion is all about huge and hot. The company is putting together the pieces for an alpha version of a nuclear reactor plant that would use magnetized target fusion. That is, it slams together hydrogen atoms by shooting donut-shaped electrified plasma into a chamber where it’s squished by synchronized pistons from all angles. This happens at a temperature of 150 million degrees. The point: To create clean and cheap energy.

Both of the companies say their products are on the verge of a breakthrough. Over about a decade of research and development, they have each acquired their own posse of doubters, who say they are designing expensive, impractical systems that don’t really work yet.

That may well be true, but people at both D-Wave and General Fusion like to compare their cost of development — and the broader investment in their respective spaces — to the estimated trillion dollars of investment over the past decades that have fueled the rise of traditional computing and its generational leaps forward associated with Moore’s Law.

Fusion always seems like a far-away prospect, but it’s closer than you might think, said General Fusion founder Michel Laberge in a talk at TED. “Very soon, somebody will crack that nut,” he said.

In fact, plotted against the curve of Moore’s Law, progress in fusion performance looks pretty parallel, according to Laberge.

The difference is, fusion doesn’t really work at all until it crosses a threshold on that chart — one Laberge and General Fusion think they are very close to achieving, if they can only create a system that is 150 million degrees, dense and long-lasting.

Over at D-Wave, which is headquartered about a 20-minute drive from the Vancouver Convention Centre, a 512-qubit quantum computer is already in the hands of customers and research partners, who have demonstrated that these machines can match the state of the art in classical computing.

What that means is, for certain problems — generally where someone is trying to optimize something — the D-Wave machine can already compute something just as fast as a state-of-the art classical set-up by considering multiple options simultaneously.

But that’s not enough. At this point there’s no big advantage to quantum computing because it’s not cost effective. The big leap is when quantum computers can do things demonstrably better than classical computers so they justify the big fridge and the big price.

D-Wave hopes and believes that will happen later this year, upon the arrival of a 1024-qubit quantum computer that’s close to being ready.

The promise of quantum computing is the possibility of solving problems that would require massive quantities of computers — perhaps more than are available in the world.

Because the combination of computing capacity and big data has been so effective in machine learning, it’s quite possible that this work will aid leaps forward in artificial intelligence. In fact, Google has a D-Wave machine and is working on that now. So is D-Wave co-founder Geordie Rose, who emphasized in an interview yesterday, “Whether or not it’s quantum is not important. It’s what it does.”

Meanwhile, a 15-minute drive away, General Fusion, which shares investors with D-Wave, is about two to three years out from creating its own power plant. Today, the pistons work well, and the plasma is hot enough and dense enough. Within the last month, the gas donut has started lasting long enough for the system to work, so now the company is turning its focus to compression and timing, according to Michael Delage, VP of strategy and corporate development.

Similar to D-Wave, General Fusion is at a point where it needs to get its system working and cost effective. “We expect to be at break-even energy in a couple of years,” said CEO Nathan Gilliland.

When this is built out, General Fusion thinks it can provide power at a cost of seven cents per kilowatt, comparable to the cost of coal.

Why this is important? As Laberge said, “It could solve all our energy problems cleanly for the next billion years.”

So why are both of these companies in Vancouver? Part of it is the investment climate. D-Wave founder Rose called out Haig Farris of Ventures West and Mike Brown of Chrysalix as “gunslinger types” who invest for the long term. D-Wave has raised $130 million, while General Fusion has raised $50 million.

Or maybe it’s the mountains meeting the sea. “There’s something around competency in hardware and pushing boundaries,” said General Fusion’s Delage.

And especially during the week of TED, it’s a place of optimism. “With AI, or quantum computing, or fusion, there are these things the world should have — and the fact they don’t is a travesty,” said Rose. “We’ve created tremendous wealth on this planet, and we should be using it on our sense of wonder.”

Source: recode.net