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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Zap Energy hits 37-million-degree electron temperatures in compact fusion device
Zap Energy announced April 23 that it has reached 1-3 keV plasma electron temperatures—roughly the equivalent of 11 to 37 million degrees Celsius—using its sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch approach to fusion. Reaching temperatures above that of the sun’s core (which is 10 million degrees Celsius temperature) is just one hurdle required before any fusion confinement concept can realistically pursue net gain and fusion energy.
R. Koch
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 2 | March 2004 | Pages 183-192
Technical Paper | Plasma and Fusion Energy Physics - Plasma Heating and Current Drive | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A482
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The additional heating of plasmas by injection of fast neutrals - or Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) - is reviewed. First, the limitations of ohmic heating in tokamaks and the other motivations for using additional heating in fusion machines are discussed. Next, the principle of operation of neutral beam injectors, and state of the art, are outlined. Positive-ion (PNBI) and negative-ion (NNBI) based concepts are discussed. Next, the physical processes by which the beam transfers energy to the plasma, namely ionisation and slowing-down are described. For both, an elementary theory is given and the comparison with experimental results is made. Applications of NBI to heating, current drive and rotation drive are reviewed. The prospects of NBI for ITER are commented.