Smaller and more powerful magnets can enhance devices that harness the fusion power of the sun and stars
PPPL main engineer Yuhu Zhai with high temperature superconducting magnet drawing, which can improve the performance of spherical tokamak fusion device. Credit: Kiran Sudarsanan / PPPL Transportation Service Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have found a way to build powerful magnets that are smaller than ever, helping design and construct machines that can help the world harness the power of the sun to create electricity. without producing the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Scientists have found a way to build high-temperature superconducting magnets made of materials that conduct electricity with little or no resistance at warmer temperatures than before. Such a powerful magnet would fit more easily into the tight spaces inside the spherical tokamak, which is shaped more like a nucleated apple than a conventional donut tokamak, and is being explored as