Scientists from the Princeton Laboratory of Plasma Physics of the US Department of Energy (DOE) (PPPL) have published details about the operation of thermonuclear installations.
New data can help improve the design of laser installations. These devices will use the thermonuclear fusion process that drives the Sun and stars.
Thermonuclear fusion combines light elements in the form of plasma — a hot substance that consists of free electrons and atomic nuclei. All this generates a huge amount of energy. Scientists are striving to reproduce thermonuclear fusion on Earth in order to obtain an almost inexhaustible source of energy.
The researchers plan to use tokamaks, magnetic fusion devices, stellarators, magnetic synthesis machines and laser devices for thermonuclear fusion. The latter are used in experiments with inertial confinement.
The researchers studied what would happen if metallic tungsten was added to the outer layer of plasma fuel pellets. They found that tungsten increases the efficiency of explosions that trigger fusion reactions in pellets. Tungsten helps block heat that could prematurely raise the temperature in the center of the pellet.
According to the team, they provided direct evidence that the addition of tungsten increases the density, temperature and pressure in the compressed pellet. As a result, synthesis increases.