Team Develops Nuclear Fusion Plasma Acceleration and Stabilization Technology Using External Magnetic Fields

-Published in Physical Review Letters


< SNU College of Engineering Professor Yong-Su Na / SeongMoo Yang (Post Doctor currently at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory)

 
SNU College of Engineering (Dean Kookheon Char) claimed on the 30^th of September that Professor Yong-Su Na’s research team of the Department of Nuclear Engineering (First Author Doctor SeongMoo Yang) developed nuclear fusion plasma acceleration and stabilization technology using an external magnetic field.
 
The fusion reaction, it’s principle lying in the energy of the sun, encapsulates hydrogen with the sun's huge gravitational force to produce a constant reaction. Even on Earth that has low gravity, using the magnetic fields can produce highly efficient fusion reactions on a much smaller scale and such studies have recently been highlighted to commercialize fusion energy. A case example is the Tokamak unit.

 

< Generally, when asymmetric magnetic fields are applied, plasma rotation decreases, as shown in green or red and plasma instability occurs, resulting in plasma rotation of 0. However, in the case of blue, as asymmetric magnetic fields increase, inversely, plasma rotation increases and plasma instability is delayed.>

                                                                                                                                     
 
Magnetic fusion devices trap hot plasma into magnetic fields and cause fusion reactions. In a plasma state, electrons and ions in an atom are separated, which is possible because electrons are smaller than ions in mass and is much easier to trap through magnetic fields. On the other hand, ions with greater mass have the limitation of reducing plasma stability, as losses occur even with the slightest changes in magnetic fields, leading to a reduction in plasma rotation.
 
The researchers have escaped the conventional way of thinking and devised a reverse change in the magnetic field to increase plasma rotation. They have found a condition to make the movement of electrons larger than that of ions using the asymmetric magnetic fields that would generally deteriorate the performance of the nuclear fusion.
 
They have succeeded in verifying the possibility of making a highly stable nuclear fusion plasma for the first time in a collaborative research experiment with the KSTAR Tokamak apparatus (Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory) Research Team. Further, the results from a joint study with Doctor Jong-Kyu Park of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in the U.S. showed that this could be explained quantitatively through computer simulations as well.
 
SNU Professor Yong-Su Na said, "The plasma rotation acceleration technology by asymmetric magnetic field that we have verified is expected to play a very important role in the large-scale fusion reactor."
"The results of the research will have a very significant impact on the International Nuclear Convergence Laboratory (ITER), which, along with Korea, includes the European Union, the U.S., Japan, Russia, China and India."
 
The research results were published on the 29^th of August in the world-renowned journal ‘Physical Review Letters’. Meanwhile, SeongMoo Yang, the first author of the paper, was hired as a postdoctoral researcher at the Princeton Plasma Physics Institute after obtaining his doctorate degree.