https://phys.org/physics-news/plasma en-us The latest news on physics of plasma High-temperature fusion plasma experiments conducted in the Large Helical Device (LHD) of the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), have renewed the world record for an acquired data amount, 0.92 terabytes (TB) per experiment, in February 2022, by using a full range of state-of-the-art plasma diagnostic devices. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-years-massive-fusion-energy-cloud.html Plasma Physics Fri, 14 Jun 2024 16:09:24 EDT news637600159 An international team of scientists has developed a novel way to experimentally produce plasma 'fireballs' on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-pair-plasmas-deep-space-generated.html Plasma Physics Thu, 13 Jun 2024 10:14:32 EDT news637492469 The furious exhaust heat generated by a fusing plasma in a commercial-scale reactor may not be as damaging to the vessel's innards as once thought, according to researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the ITER Organization (ITER). https://phys.org/news/2024-06-plasma-mechanism-fusion-vessels-excessive.html Plasma Physics Tue, 11 Jun 2024 10:30:04 EDT news637320602 The experimental generation of increasingly intense light beams could help to unveil new physical regimes occurring in the presence of very strong electromagnetic fields. While some progress has been made towards this goal, physicists are yet to develop a reliable strategy to achieve extreme light intensities. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-interact-extreme-intensities-schwinger-limit.html Plasma Physics Quantum Physics Mon, 10 Jun 2024 09:50:01 EDT news637231302 Fusion energy is released when two light nuclei combine to form a single heavier one (nuclear fusion reaction). Fusion energy-based power generation (fusion power plant) uses the energy generated when deuterium and tritium combine to form helium. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-discovery-turbulence-transition-fusion-plasmas.html Plasma Physics Mon, 10 Jun 2024 09:27:04 EDT news637230422 Harnessing energy from plasma requires a precise understanding of its behavior during fusion to keep it hot, dense and stable. A new theoretical model about a plasma's edge, which can become unstable and bulge, brings the prospect of commercial fusion power closer to reality. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-apple-donut-tokamak-impacts-limits.html Plasma Physics Tue, 28 May 2024 10:55:04 EDT news636112501 Both literally and figuratively, light pervades the world. It banishes darkness, conveys telecommunications signals between continents and makes visible the invisible, from faraway galaxies to the smallest bacterium. Light can also help heat the plasma within ring-shaped devices known as tokamaks as scientists worldwide strive to harness the fusion process to generate green electricity. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-discoveries-nature-methods-fusion-plasma.html Optics & Photonics Plasma Physics Thu, 23 May 2024 11:37:04 EDT news635683021 The intricate dance of atoms fusing and releasing energy has fascinated scientists for decades. Now, human ingenuity and artificial intelligence are coming together at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) to solve one of humankind's most pressing issues: generating clean, reliable energy from fusing plasma. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-ai-intensive-aspects-plasma-physics.html Plasma Physics Tue, 14 May 2024 11:07:57 EDT news634903672 The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) has made a significant advance in laser plasma acceleration. By employing an innovative method, a research team managed to substantially exceed the previous record for proton acceleration. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-smaller-laser-facility-method-exceed.html Optics & Photonics Plasma Physics Mon, 13 May 2024 10:17:44 EDT news634814260 Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) measured a new record for a fusion device internally clad in tungsten, the element that could be the best fit for the commercial-scale machines required to make fusion a viable energy source for the world. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-fusion-tungsten-tokamak-west.html Plasma Physics Mon, 06 May 2024 11:01:05 EDT news634212062 Creating heat from fusion reactions requires carefully manipulating the properties of plasma, the electrically charged fourth state of matter that makes up 99% of the visible universe. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-instrument-scientists-tailor-plasma-fusion.html Plasma Physics Tue, 30 Apr 2024 11:56:00 EDT news633696956 A team of physicists from several institutions across the U.S. working with a colleague from China, at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, in San Diego, California, has devised a way to overcome two key hurdles standing in the way of using fusion as a general power source. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-physicists-key-hurdles-fusion-reactions.html Plasma Physics Mon, 29 Apr 2024 10:50:01 EDT news633604691 In the nine decades since humans first produced fusion reactions, only a few fusion technologies have demonstrated the ability to make a thermal fusion plasma with electron temperatures hotter than 10 million degrees Celsius, roughly the temperature of the core of the sun. Zap Energy's unique approach, known as a sheared-flow-stabilized Z pinch, has now joined those rarefied ranks, far exceeding this plasma temperature milestone in a device that is a fraction of the scale of other fusion systems. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-electron-temperatures-small-scale-stabilized.html Plasma Physics Tue, 23 Apr 2024 11:00:01 EDT news633081918 In their ongoing quest to develop a range of methods for managing plasma so it can be used to generate electricity in a process known as fusion, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have shown how two old methods can be combined to provide greater flexibility. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-island-paradise-fusion-reactor.html Plasma Physics Tue, 16 Apr 2024 10:18:52 EDT news632481529 For the first time, scientists have built a fusion experiment using permanent magnets, a technique that could show a simple way to build future devices for less cost and allow researchers to test new concepts for future fusion power plants. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-roots-lab-stellarator-years-door.html Plasma Physics Tue, 02 Apr 2024 17:42:04 EDT news631298521 How much fuel can we add to the fire while still maintaining control? Metaphorically speaking, that's the question one team at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has been asking themselves lately. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-plasma-fusion-adding-fuel.html Plasma Physics Thu, 28 Mar 2024 16:48:44 EDT news630863320 In the pursuit of clean and endless energy, nuclear fusion is a promising frontier. But in fusion reactors, where scientists attempt to make energy by fusing atoms together, mimicking the sun's power generation process, things can get extremely hot. To overcome this, researchers have been diving deep into the science of heat management, focusing on a special metal called tungsten. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-tungsten-potential-fusion-materials.html Condensed Matter Plasma Physics Wed, 13 Mar 2024 16:41:58 EDT news629566915 In massive particle accelerators, sub-atomic particles (like electrons) are sped up to super-high speeds comparable to the speed of light towards a target surface. The collision of accelerated sub-atomic particles gives rise to unique interactions enabling scientists to obtain a deeper understanding of the fundamental properties of matter. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-generate-super-fast-electrons-table.html Optics & Photonics Plasma Physics Wed, 13 Mar 2024 14:32:03 EDT news629559121 To become commercially viable, fusion power plants must create and sustain the plasma conditions necessary for fusion reactions. However, at high temperatures and densities, plasmas often develop gradients in those temperatures and densities. These gradients can grow into instabilities such as edge localized modes (ELMs). https://phys.org/news/2024-03-inverting-fusion-plasmas.html Plasma Physics Tue, 12 Mar 2024 10:44:38 EDT news629459076 In the Japanese art of Kintsugi, an artist takes the broken shards of a bowl and fuses them back together with gold to make a final product more beautiful than the original. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-fusion-reaction-weaknesses-strengths.html Condensed Matter Plasma Physics Tue, 05 Mar 2024 10:28:49 EST news628856926 In the predawn hours of Sept. 5, 2021, engineers achieved a major milestone in the labs of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC), when a new type of magnet, made from high-temperature superconducting material, achieved a world-record magnetic field strength of 20 tesla for a large-scale magnet. That's the intensity needed to build a fusion power plant that is expected to produce a net output of power and potentially usher in an era of virtually limitless power production. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-high-temperature-superconducting-magnets-ready.html Superconductivity Plasma Physics Mon, 04 Mar 2024 11:52:12 EST news628775519 Most people know about solids, liquids, and gases as the main three states of matter, but a fourth state of matter exists as well. Plasma—also known as ionized gas—is the most abundant, observable form of matter in our universe, found in the sun and other celestial bodies. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-plasma-oscillations-propel-breakthroughs-fusion.html Plasma Physics Mon, 04 Mar 2024 08:48:32 EST news628764503 An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) successfully conducted in-situ studies with a plasma generated inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM). This marks the first time live SEM imaging while treating the sample with a plasma was achieved. The study is published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-real-microscopic-imaging-plasma-treatment.html Plasma Physics Wed, 28 Feb 2024 07:17:03 EST news628327022 Most of the energy from the sun and other stars comes from a chain of nuclear fusion reactions. The end of this chain is marked by the fusion of protons with beryllium-7 to form boron-8. This process is key in determining the flow of high-energy solar neutrinos that reach the Earth. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-theory-based-clearer-picture-fusion.html General Physics Plasma Physics Mon, 26 Feb 2024 15:24:13 EST news628183444 In the blink of an eye, the unruly, superheated plasma that drives a fusion reaction can lose its stability and escape the strong magnetic fields confining it within the donut-shaped fusion reactor. These getaways frequently spell the end of the reaction, posing a core challenge to developing fusion as a non-polluting, virtually limitless energy source. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-ai-wrangle-fusion-power-grid.html Plasma Physics Wed, 21 Feb 2024 11:00:01 EST news627724442 Fashioned from the same element found in sand and covered by intricate patterns, microchips power smartphones, augment appliances and aid the operation of cars and airplanes. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-plasma-scientists-microchips.html Plasma Physics Wed, 21 Feb 2024 05:24:06 EST news627715434 The Joint European Torus (JET), one of the world's largest and most powerful fusion machines, has demonstrated the ability to reliably generate fusion energy, while simultaneously setting a world record in energy output. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-fusion-facility-tritium-yield-energy.html Plasma Physics Thu, 08 Feb 2024 11:05:33 EST news626612727 Five independent teams of researchers have reviewed the work and claims made by a group at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) who announced in December 2022 that they had achieved the first laser-powered fusion reaction that exceeded "scientific breakeven"—in which more energy was produced by a manmade fusion reaction than consumed by the reaction. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-nif-fusion-breakeven-peer-multiple.html Plasma Physics Tue, 06 Feb 2024 10:49:35 EST news626438966 Artificially intelligent software has been developed to enhance medical treatments that use jets of electrified gas known as plasma. The computer code predicts the chemicals emitted by plasma devices, which can be used to treat cancer, promote healthy tissue growth and sterilize surfaces. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-artificially-intelligent-software-jets-plasma.html Plasma Physics Tue, 06 Feb 2024 09:05:05 EST news626432701 Scientists from the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE) led experiments to demonstrate an effective "spark plug" for direct-drive methods of inertial confinement fusion (ICF). In two studies published in Nature Physics, the authors discuss their results and outline how they can be applied at bigger scales with the hopes of eventually producing fusion at a future facility. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-scientists-effective-inertial-confinement-fusion.html Plasma Physics Mon, 05 Feb 2024 15:40:04 EST news626370002