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UK's MAST Upgrade sets plasma pressure record in fifth experimental campaign

The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has completed the fifth experimental campaign of its flagship fusion experiment, MAST Upgrade. The campaign, conducted between 2025 and 2026 at the Culham Campus in Oxfordshire, UK, produced over 1,100 plasma pulses and achieved the device's highest-ever plasma pressure while overcoming plasma instability issues. In fusion devices, hydrogen isotopes must be heated, compressed, and confined under extremely high temperatures and pressures. The higher the plasma density and temperature, the stronger the fusion reaction, and high-pressure plasmas are also closer to the operating conditions required for future commercial fusion power plants. UKAEA stated that this...

2026-08-07

Department of Plasma Physics and Fusion Engineering at the University of Science and Technology of China Proposes New Three-Dimensional Magnetic Field Configuration for Stellarators

Stellarators confine high-temperature plasma using three-dimensional magnetic fields generated by external coils, enabling steady-state operation without relying on plasma current and avoiding instabilities such as disruptions, making them the fastest-growing technological route globally. However, if the three-dimensional magnetic field is not carefully optimized, trapped particles can experience significant radial drift, leading to a substantial increase in neoclassical transport losses. To suppress this drift, the magnetic field must satisfy the "omnigenity" condition, meaning that the time-averaged radial drift of all trapped particle orbits is zero. The most widely applied class of omnigenous magnetic fields is poloidal omnigenity (PO), and such configurations are also commonly referred to as quasi-isodynamic (QI) configurations...

2026-08-06

Colorado State University produces first ultracold neutral plasma with electron temperature below 1 kelvin

Researchers at Colorado State University have, for the first time, produced an ultracold neutral plasma by combining laser cooling techniques with strong magnetic fields. Measurements show that the electron temperature in this plasma is less than 1 kelvin above absolute zero, making it one of the lowest electron temperatures ever measured in a plasma. The research was published in Physics of Plasmas. The new method proposed in the paper helps test plasma theories under more controllable experimental conditions and improve computational models of plasma behavior in extreme environments. The researchers believe this achievement could contribute to future fusion energy...

2026-08-05

UC Santa Barbara and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Collaborate to Accelerate Fusion Plasma Simulations with AI

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are launching a new collaboration to bring artificial intelligence into extreme plasma simulations, accelerating critical computations in nuclear fusion and high-energy-density physics research. Neel Sankaran (left), a doctoral student of UCSB Professor Haewon Jeong, poses with LLNL scientist Min Sang Cho (right). The project is led by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC Santa Barbara...

2026-08-05

University of Science and Technology of China Plans to Establish a Micro-Major in "Magnetic Confinement Controlled Nuclear Fusion"

On the afternoon of July 28, the expert review meeting for the establishment of the micro-major in Magnetic Confinement Controlled Nuclear Fusion at the University of Science and Technology of China was held at the university's Lishi College. Seven experts from Fudan University, Sun Yat-sen University, Hefei University of Technology, Anhui University, and fusion energy enterprises formed the review committee to deliberate on the micro-major construction plan. Following inquiries and discussions, the expert group unanimously agreed to establish the micro-major. The meeting was hosted by Lishi College of USTC. Zhu Dongjie, Executive Vice Dean of Lishi College, attended the meeting, while Professor Xie Jinlin, Vice Dean of the School of Nuclear Science and Technology, and Associate Professor Liu Adi, Teaching Director of the Department of Plasma Physics and Fusion Engineering, participated in the presentation and defense. ...

2026-08-05

News Broadcast: Major Science Infrastructure Construction Accelerates Across the Board, Innovative Achievements Emerge

Major science and technology infrastructure is a powerful tool for building a strong science and technology nation. Since the beginning of this year, the construction of major science infrastructure in China has accelerated across the board, with original achievements continuously emerging, rapidly transforming from a source of basic research into a "strong magnetic field" that fosters disruptive technologies and cultivates new quality productive forces. To date, China has over 70 national major science and technology infrastructure projects under construction or in operation, ranking second globally in overall scale, with some facilities entering the world's top tier in comprehensive capabilities. Distinctive clusters have taken shape in Beijing Huairou, Shanghai Zhangjiang, Anhui Hefei, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. On Science Island in Hefei, Anhui, leveraging the construction of facilities such as the Steady High Magnetic Field and the artificial sun nuclear fusion experiment, nearly 50 enterprises have been incubated in fields including superconductivity, magnets, cryogenics, materials, and plasma applications...

2026-08-05

U.S. Team Proposes New In-Situ Cleaning Method for Porous Tungsten Walls in Fusion Devices

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, and Pennsylvania State University have proposed an in-situ cleaning method for fusion system wall materials, which uses heating combined with neon plasma to remove contaminants from the surface of porous tungsten materials after components are installed and sealed within a vacuum chamber. The research findings have been published in *Nuclear Materials and Energy*. Image credit: Kyle Palmer / PPPL Communications Department. Fusion system walls must withstand extreme temperatures. Liquid lithium is considered a promising wall protection material, which can be retained within porous tungsten wall tile structures much like water absorbed by a sponge. However, this...

2026-08-05

First H-mode plasma with ELMs achieved on WEST

Recently, the C13 experimental campaign on the French tungsten tokamak WEST achieved a major breakthrough, successfully producing H-mode plasmas with Edge Localized Modes (ELMs). This is a key step in preparing for plasma scenarios relevant to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and future fusion power plants. Over the past nearly three months, scientists, engineers, and technicians from the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) at Cadarache, together with international collaborators, conducted the C13 experimental campaign. This campaign aimed to address a series of key scientific and technical challenges in magnetic confinement fusion, covering the behavior of plasma-facing components and advanced plasma scenarios. The experiments focused on...

2026-08-04

Unveiling Extreme Heat: Z Boson Probes New Mechanisms of the "Hottest Matter in the Universe"

Using Z boson probes at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), scientists have revealed new details about how the hottest matter in the universe—the quark-gluon plasma (QGP)—absorbs energy, challenging existing theoretical models. This research provides important clues for understanding the state of the early universe shortly after the Big Bang. To gain deeper insights into the QGP, physicists cleverly employ Z bosons as messengers. Since Z bosons do not interact with the QGP, they can traverse the plasma almost unaffected, precisely recording information about the initial state. By analyzing the momentum differences between μons produced from Z boson decays and their recoiling jets, scientists were able to determine the energy lost by quarks as they traverse the QGP...

2026-08-04

Japanese research team experimentally demonstrates that fusion plasma fluctuations can drive inward particle transport

August 3, 2026, a research team from The University of Tokyo and the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) under the National Institutes of Natural Sciences announced that researchers have directly observed in experiments that low-frequency electric field fluctuations in high-temperature plasma confined by a dipole magnetic field can transport particles to the central region of the plasma. Plasma produced by the levitated dipole experiment device RT-1 (Ring Trap 1) Overall view of the RT-1 device (Kashiwa Campus, The University of Tokyo) The study was conducted using the levitated dipole experiment device Ring Trap 1 (RT-1) at The University of Tokyo. RT-...

2026-08-03

The Institute of Plasma Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, hosted the 2026 China-Korea Bilateral Workshop on Tungsten Metal First Wall and Plasma-Wall Interactions

Recently, the 2026 China-Korea Bilateral Workshop on Tungsten Metal First Wall and Plasma-Wall Interactions (2026 CN-KO  Workshop on W-based metal Wall and  Plasma-Wall Interactions) was held. This meeting, hosted by the Institute of Plasma Physics, is a series of conferences under the framework of bilateral science and technology cooperation between the Chinese and Korean governments. More than 40 researchers from institutions including the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, the Korea Institute of Materials Science, Pohang University of Science and Technology, the Institute of Plasma Physics, the Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei University of Technology, and Beihang University participated...

2026-07-30

Princeton University and PPPL Launch Collaborative Graduate Program in Plasma Science and Technology

The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facility, and Princeton University recently launched the Collaborative Research Program in Plasma Science and Technology (CRPST). This two-year program, which began on July 1, 2026, aims to establish a more formal joint mentorship mechanism and expand opportunities for Princeton University graduate students in engineering, physics, and related disciplines to participate in research at PPPL. Under the program, selected students will be jointly mentored by a PPPL scientist and a Princeton University faculty member. Students will work at PPPL at least one day per week, participate in relevant research groups, and use laboratory facilities to advance their projects...

2026-07-30

"Magnetically Confined Fusion Burning Plasma" Selected as One of the Frontier Scientific Issues for 2026 by the China Association for Science and Technology

The main forum of the 28th Annual Meeting of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) was held in Beijing on July 15. During the forum, a list of major scientific questions, engineering and technical challenges, and industrial technology is

2026-07-27

Institute of Plasma Physics Visits ITER Headquarters in France for Exchange Activities

From July 7 to 9, 2026, a delegation from the Institute of Plasma Physics (ASIPP) visited ITER headquarters in France to engage in in-depth discussions regarding the joint commissioning plan for the device and the on-site commissioning of key ITER systems

2026-07-27