ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
January 2026
Latest News
Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
Tetsuya Nishi, Kei Yoneda, Kai Masuda, Kiyoshi Yoshikawa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 4 | November 2007 | Pages 1061-1065
Technical Paper | Plasma Engineering and Diagnostics | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1636
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A 21S metastable helium atomic beam injector was studied for a beam probe of electric field diagnoses, which is applicable to high electric potential region in Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion (IECF) plasmas where a solid probe can hardly be utilized. With deuterium background gas (~0.1Pa) which is the minimum operation pressure of the IECF devices, the beam density was found to decrease ten times lower than beam density without background gas because of collisional effect. Also, plasma parameters in a-magnetron-discharge-based exciter were evaluated by means of Langmuir probe and emission spectroscopy. These results strongly imply a high excitation rate of ~10-4 into 21S metastable state.