MAY 8TH 20__VICTOR TANGERMANN__FILED UNDER: EARTH & ENERGY WALLPAPERFLARE Taking ControlA team of research physicists at Princeton University may have found a new way to control fusion reactions — an incremental step towards making fusion energy, the holy grail of energy production, a reality. Many fusion reactors today use light elements in the form of plasma as fuel. The problem is that this elemental plasma is extremely hot — practically as hot as the Sun — and extremely unpredictable and difficult to control. Magnetic IslandsBut there may be a way to force the plasma into doing what we want more predictably and efficiently, as detailed in a new theoretical paper published in the journal Physics of Plasmas. The Princeton team found that shooting radio frequency waves that super-heat fusion reactions inside a reactor could potentially reduce the chance of “magnetic islands” — bubble-like structures that can throw fusion reactions out of whack by triggering sudden releases of energy. “We want the islands not to grow,” explained Eduardo Rodriguez, a graduate student in the Princeton Program in Plasma Physics and first author of the paper, said in a statement. “Focusing on this can lead to improved stabilization of fusion reactors.” READ MORE: Radio Wave Breakthrough Helps Stabilize Fusion Reactions [Popular Mechanics] More on fusion: Fusion Startup Claims Breakthrough Will Provide “Unlimited” Energy |
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来自: AetherCore > 《自然科学》