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.
Akihide Fujisawa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 46 | Number 1 | July 2004 | Pages 91-100
Technical Paper | Stellarators | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A544
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Bifurcation phenomena with confinement improvement in toroidal plasmas are briefly reviewed. After a general discussion of the formation mechanisms of improved confinement modes, the electron internal transport barrier commonly observed in stellarators is chosen here as the main subject with focus on the following aspects: the bifurcation property, the scenario of bifurcation with confinement improvement, and the confinement features. Several works to investigate the relationship between rational surfaces and barrier formation are introduced as examples to show the relation between magnetic topology and the bifurcation property. The roles of stellarators, which have a wide variety of configurations, for understanding bifurcation phenomena are discussed.