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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The spark of the Super: Teller–Ulam and the birth of the H-bomb—rivalry, credit, and legacy at 75 years
In early 1951, Los Alamos scientists Edward Teller and Stanislaw Ulam devised a breakthrough that would lead to the hydrogen bomb [1]. Their design gave the United States an initial advantage in the Cold War, though comparable progress was soon achieved independently in the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom.
Arthur Mazzeo, Florian M. Laggner, Keanu J. Ammons, Sazzad Hossain, Evan Kallenberg, Liam King, Kirtan Davda, Miral Shah, Steven C. Shannon, Amanda M. Lietz, Brendan Crowley, John T. Scoville
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 82 | Number 1 | January-February 2026 | Pages 79-91
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2025.2498216
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Large, Uniform Plasma for Ionizing Neutrals (LUPIN) is a radio-frequency (RF) inductively coupled plasma (ICP) chamber for demonstrating plasma performance of an RF ICP positive ion source upgrade for the DIII-D neutral beam injection (NBI) system. LUPIN will be used to investigate ion source physics, including neutral gas dynamics, plasma density uniformity, interactions with Faraday shields, and power coupling to novel RF antenna designs. LUPIN has an RF generator capable of delivering 20 kW of power at 2 MHz, which is coupled into a cylindrical quartz vessel measuring 20 cm in length and 10 cm in radius. This configuration matches the power density requirements for a full-scale ion source. Target hydrogen and deuterium plasma densities exceeding 1018 m-3 would relate to extracted ion current densities of 2100 A/m2 for 10s. Vacuum conductance and gas flow calculations predict a maximum achievable neutral gas flow rate of 1675 Pa L/s at 5 Pa of He, which mimics the gas flow of the DIII-D NBI system. Designs have been developed for an internal Faraday shield to mitigate heat flux and ion sputtering on the dielectric vessel. Thermomechanical finite element simulations demonstrated the Faraday shield design to be capable of withstanding anticipated heat loads from worst-case operation scenarios. Results of upcoming experimental investigations on LUPIN will guide the design of a full-scale prototype for DIII-D integration.