Via scitechdaily.com: Fusion Breakthrough: Compact New Device Reaches Temperatures of 37 Million Degrees by Zap Energy
Image: Zap Energy has achieved a breakthrough in fusion technology with its Z pinch device, FuZE, which reaches electron temperatures of 11 to 37 million degrees Celsius, surpassing core sun temperatures, at a fraction of the cost and complexity of other systems. A bright flash of light from a FuZE (Fusion Z-pinch Experiment) plasma. Credit: Zap Energy
A new study documents record-breaking electron temperatures in a compact, sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch fusion device.In the nine decades since humans first produced fusion reactions, only a few fusion technologies have demonstrated the ability to make a thermal fusion plasma with electron temperatures hotter than 10 million degrees Celsius, roughly the temperature of the core of the sun. Zap Energy’s unique approach, known as a
sheared-flow-stabilized Z pinch, has now joined those rarefied ranks, far exceeding this plasma temperature milestone in a device that is a fraction of the scale of other fusion systems.
A new research paper, published this month in Physical Review Letters, details measurements made on Zap Energy’s Fusion Z-pinch Experiment (FuZE) of 1-3 keV plasma electron temperatures — roughly the equivalent of 11 to 37 million degrees Celsius (20 to 66 million degrees Fahrenheit). Due to the electrons’ ability to rapidly cool a plasma, this feat is a key hurdle for fusion systems and FuZE is the simplest, smallest, and lowest cost device to have achieved it. Zap’s technology offers the potential for a much shorter and more practical path to a commercial product capable of producing abundant, on-demand, carbon-free energy to the globe...
Full article: https://scitechdaily.com/fusion-breakthrough-compact-new-device-reaches-temperatures-of-37-million-degrees/
