"It's a giant leap forward for a concept that promises economically viable, zero-carbon heat and electricity."
  • threelonmusketeersEnglish
    13·
    3 months ago

    The Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror research team was able to create and hold a plasma using a magnetic field strength of 17 Tesla through high-temperature superconductor magnets, as Interesting Engineering reported.

    The magnet systems were delivered to the University of Wisconsin’s Physical Sciences Laboratory in Stoughton, Wisconsin, this year by Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The project operates as a public-private partnership with Realta Fusion, Inc., a UW-Madison spin-off company that contributes funding, according to the lab.

    “It’s setting a world record in magnetic field strength for magnetically confined plasmas and is equipped with intense heating systems while still being a hands-on experiment for both graduate and undergraduate students,” Realta Fusion co-founder and UW-Madison scientist Jay Anderson said, per Interesting Engineering.

    The design is based on an old fusion device called the magnetic mirror, which was a leading approach in the field until the 1980s, as the news outlet explained. This time, it’s been upgraded with the powerful HTS magnets, which trap energetic plasma in a “magnetic bottle” through advances in superconductor technology.

    Glad to see fusion power slowly inching towards viability. Modern superconductors seem like they have a potential to accelerate progress in this field.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      Especially now that we’ve managed to grow them on wires. That’s one of those big turning points that nobody tracked as it happened.

      • threelonmusketeersEnglish
        2·
        3 months ago

        Can we make flexible, ductile, high-temperature super conductors now? Or have we settled for packing a flexible tube full of powder, Pixy Stix style?

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          4·
          3 months ago

          Actual, flexible, ductile ribbons. It’s a new thing just in the last few years. The key turns out to be some kind of high-energy ion beam bombardment as the crystal is growing on the ordinary metal substrate.

          The pixy stix wires produced pretty crummy quality superconductor, AFAIK, besides just being harder to work with.

          Edit: Actually, the HTS itself is still a ceramic, so probably not ductile. Flexible and tough, though.