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2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
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Copper melting behavior at extreme temperatures could inform fusion materials
Using SLAC’s electron camera, researchers recorded timestamps of solid copper atoms (orange) as they melted (yellow) after being blasted with laser heat. This graphic shows how copper atoms changed over a period of several femtoseconds (millionths of a billionth of a second), notated here as fractions of a picosecond. Instead of the predicted collapse, the researchers saw a gradual melting. (Image: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has announced researchers have conducted experiments testing how copper melts under extreme conditions, such as those it might be exposed to in a fusion machine. The results, published in Nature Communications, found that a copper thin film was more resilient to melting than models had predicted, uncovering molecular dynamics that had been missing from calculations.
“These results greatly improve the simulations we use to predict which materials have the best shot at surviving the extreme conditions of future fusion reaction chambers,” said Mianzhen Mo, the SLAC staff scientist who led the research.
Zhikun Luo, Zhenyuan Wang, Yangyang Xiao, Xiaofang Wang
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 82 | Number 3 | April 2026 | Pages 659-674
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2025.2508587
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the field of laser-plasma interactions, proton radiography has become a key diagnostic technique for high-energy density and transient electromagnetic fields that typically relies on the deflection of proton beams due to the Lorentz force to obtain the information. However, in regions of higher-density plasma, the effects of scattering on the deflection of the probing proton beam have not been thoroughly studied, limiting the application of proton radiography in these environments.
This study presents a theoretical and simulation-based approach to quantifying the effects of plasma scattering and electromagnetic field deflection. We introduce a new method for calculating the path integral of the electric and magnetic field in consideration of plasma scattering. This method requires knowledge of the plasma density, and the results remain accurate enough even when the input density information deviates by 50%. The calculation also maintains good accuracy when the detection distance away from the target rear surface changes. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the effects of scattering on proton diagnostic deflection and provide theoretical guidance for the application of proton radiography in higher-density plasma regions.