One step closer to controlling nuclear fusion (13.01.12)

**Shigawire** · January 29, 2012, 08:24 AM

A major breakthrough has been made in the containment of instabilities in the fusion plasma of a Tokamak reactor. In this case, it's the ITER reactor at the "Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne" (university science in Lausanne).

For the longest time, the main problem with maintaining a fusion reaction has been instabilities in the plasma, which eventually causes a complete loss of the plasma. Early attempts to control this were done with micro wave beams. However, the results of that were imprecise and the perturbations bled to the rest of the plasma installation. Now they've been able to do it with much more precision using an antenna sending "electromagnetic radiation" (could still be micro waves - doesn't say in article).

The next step is to develop a better detector to identify and target the instabilities as they develop in real time. ITER looks like it may still be running on schedule.

http://actu.epfl.ch/news/one-step-cl...uclear-fusion/

**MathiasOfAthens** · January 30, 2012, 10:56 AM

One step closer to intergalactic space ships.

**Sphere** · January 30, 2012, 02:47 PM

Whats the physics behind the development of "vibrations" within the plasma?

Just thinking about it from classic thermodynamic, Brownian motion, viewpoint (small particles with random motion), I cannot think of a way local vibrations would development.

What is going on with the subatomic particles in the plasma at these area of vibration?

**Mr. Crow** · February 29, 2012, 02:23 AM

Originally Posted by Sphere

Whats the physics behind the development of "vibrations" within the plasma?

Just thinking about it from classic thermodynamic, Brownian motion, viewpoint (small particles with random motion), I cannot think of a way local vibrations would development.

What is going on with the subatomic particles in the plasma at these area of vibration?

maybe it is some kind of resonance?

**Sphere** · February 29, 2012, 08:23 PM

maybe it is some kind of resonance?

To have resonance you must first have vibration, I am not getting how you get local vibrations in a plasma. Being a dumb steel and concrete guy my idea of vibration is

(Inertial Mass) u''(t) + (Damping) u'(t) + (Elastic Storage) u(t) = Force (t)

Inertial mass and force I can easily invision for subatomic particles, and damping isn't applicable here.
But that just gives you

(Inertial Mass) u''(t) = Force (t)

or more famously

F = ma

To have vibration instead of just motion (F=ma) you need elastic storage. In a solid, elastic storage on the atomic level is just the squeezing together or seperating of atoms beyond the spacing they would like to be at in the atomic lattice.

If it wasn't "local" vibrations, but rather something like sound waves passing through a gas it would make sense to me. But the diagrams say they are zapping a specific spot which my little brain can't get wrapped around.

Meh, babble, back to project due in ... 13 hours.

**Henry X** · February 23, 2012, 01:33 AM

So we can now power our Death Star?

**MathiasOfAthens** · February 23, 2012, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by Henry X

So we can now power our Death Star?

Uh now we are one step closer to nuclear fussion Titans... think bigger man!

**Mr. Crow** · February 29, 2012, 09:26 PM

oim as clules as you here, but i was thinking more along the lines of nuclear, magnetic reconance, probably used on the spots that normally would be nucleation points for a hotter phase of the plasma, basically you use a focused field for magnetic cooling a very small volume that would otherwise cause huge instability. again its a guess, i am clueless as to the real nature of this thing.