Plasma device using external magnets to confine plasma
Example of a stellarator design, as used in the Wendelstein 7-X experiment: A series of magnet coils (blue) surrounds the plasma (yellow). A magnetic field line is highlighted in green on the yellow plasma surface.Wendelstein 7-X in Greifswald, Germany. Coils are prepared for the experimental stellarator.HSX stellarator
A stellarator is a device that confines plasma using external magnets. Scientists researching magnetic confinement fusion aim to use stellarator devices as a vessel for nuclear fusion reactions. The name refers to stars as fusion also occurs in stars such as the Sun.[1] It is one of the earliest fusion power devices, along with the z-pinch and magnetic mirror.
The stellarator was invented by American scientist Lyman Spitzer of Princeton University in 1951, and much of its early development was carried out by his team at what became the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). Lyman's Model A began operation in 1953 and demonstrated plasma confinement. Larger models followed, but these demonstrated poor performance, losing plasma at rates far worse than theoretical predictions. By the early 1960s, any hope of quickly producing a commercial machine faded, and attention turned to studying the fundamental theory of high-energy plasmas. By the mid-1960s, Spitzer was convinced that the stellarator was matching the Bohm diffusion rate, which suggested it would never be a practical fusion device.
The release of information on the USSR's tokamak design in 1968 indicated a leap in performance. After great debate within the US industry, PPPL converted the Model C stellarator to the Symmetrical Tokamak (ST) as a way to confirm or deny these results. ST confirmed them, and large-scale work on the stellarator concept ended in the US as the tokamak got most of the attention for the next two decades. Research on the design continued in Germany and Japan, where several new designs were built.
The tokamak ultimately proved to have similar problems to the stellarators, but for different reasons. Since the 1990s, the stellarator design has seen renewed interest.[2] New methods of construction have increased the quality and power of the magnetic fields, improving performance.[3] A number of new devices have been built to test these concepts. Major examples include Wendelstein 7-X in Germany, the Helically Symmetric Experiment (HSX) in the US, and the Large Helical Device in Japan.
^Clery, D. (2015). "The bizarre reactor that might save nuclear fusion". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aad4746.
^Clery, D. (17 January 2013). "After ITER, Many Other Obstacles for Fusion Power". Science.
^Gates, David A. Stellarator Research Opportunities: A Report of the National Stellarator Coordinating Committee. OCLC 1187827940.
A stellarator is a device that confines plasma using external magnets. Scientists researching magnetic confinement fusion aim to use stellarator devices...
the plasma particles by applying strong magnetic fields. Tokamaks and stellarators are the two leading MCF device candidates as of today. Investigation...
that wind around the torus in a helix. Devices like the z-pinch and stellarator had attempted this, but demonstrated serious instabilities. It was the...
tokamak and the reversed field pinch (RFP), or asymmetric, like the stellarator. The additional degree of freedom gained by giving up toroidal symmetry...
The National Compact Stellarator Experiment, NCSX in short, was a magnetic fusion energy experiment based on the stellarator design being constructed...
The Model C stellarator was the first large-scale stellarator to be built, during the early stages of fusion power research. Planned since 1952, construction...
shape. Stellarator: Twisted rings of hot plasma. The stellarator attempts to create a natural twisted plasma path, using external magnets. Stellarators were...
confining a hot plasma, and, unaware of the Z-pinch efforts, he created the stellarator. Spitzer applied to the US Atomic Energy Commission for funding to build...
different from the stellarator to be interesting. This solution had not been considered very deeply given the simplicity of the stellarator concept compared...
original name was Princeton Stellarators, Inc (PSI). Thea Energy's approach to commercial fusion is based on the stellarator approach using a unique set...
of fusion as an energy source. It is known for the development of the stellarator and tokamak designs, along with numerous fundamental advances in plasma...
diverted configuration is a magnetic field configuration of a tokamak or a stellarator which separates the confined plasma from the material surface of the...
campaigns by December of that year. HIDRA is the former WEGA classical stellarator that was operated at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald...
is a type of continuous symmetry in the magnetic field strength of a stellarator. Quasisymmetry is desired, as Noether's theorem implies that there exists...
formerly Zyklon B Uragan-1 (stellarator), Uragan-2, Uragan-2M, Uragan-3, Uragan-3M [uk], a series of Ukrainian stellarator fusion experiments Uragan-1...
second site (after Garching) in Greifswald and is experimenting with a stellarator, Wendelstein 7-X. Alfried Krupp Institute of Advanced Study Friedrich...
At present, it is Germany's second largest fusion experiment after stellarator Wendelstein 7-X. To make experiments under reactor-like conditions possible...
developed at Columbia University Columbia Non-neutral Torus, a small stellarator at the Columbia University Plasma Physics Laboratory Columbia-Princeton...
the Argentinian claims, but while thinking about it comes up with the stellarator concept. Funding is arranged under Project Matterhorn and develops into...
ad hoc efforts dating back to about 1951. Primary among these was the stellarator program at Princeton University, itself code-named Project Matterhorn...
configurations exist, including the toroidal geometries of tokamaks and stellarators and open-ended mirror confinement systems. A third confinement principle...
experimental tokamak ASDEX Upgrade (in operation since 1991), the experimental stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (in operation since 2016), a tandem accelerator and a...
to be incorporated into a fusion reactor. The HSX is a modular coil stellarator which is a toroid-shaped pressure vessel with external electromagnets...
plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Microwaves are used in stellarators and tokamak experimental fusion reactors to help break down the gas into...
laser beam. An upgraded Thomson scattering system in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator uses Nd:YAG lasers to emit multiple pulses in quick succession. The intervals...
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