MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center researchers use numerical simulation to evaluate and optimise the proposed design of the Advanced Divertor experiment a compact nuclear fusion machine that packs full-scale reactor power into an R&D testbed.
Manipulating magnets in the quest for fusion
July 20, 2021MIT
“You get the high field, you get the performance.”
Senior Research Scientist Brian LaBombard is summarizing what might be considered a guiding philosophy behind designing and engineering fusion devices at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC). Beginning in 1972 with the Alcator A tokamak, through Alcator C (1978) and Alcator C-Mod (1991), the PSFC has used magnets with high fields to confine the hot plasma in compact, high-performance tokamaks. Joining what was then the Plasma Fusion Center as a graduate student in 1978, just as Alcator A was finishing its run, LaBombard is one of the few who has worked with each iteration of the high-field concept. Now he has turned his attention to the PSFC’s latest fusion venture, a fusion energy project called SPARC.