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The discovery of new turbulence transition in fusion plasmas - EurekAlert
For fusion energy, a high-temperature plasma*1 must be maintained by a magnetic “cage” to initiate a fusion reaction. However, random and microscopic fluctuations (turbulence*2) induce the plasma to flow out of the magnetic “cage”. Therefore, understanding the physical nature of turbulence and reducing it are prominent issues. A research group led by Assistant Professor Toshiki Kinoshita (Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University), Professor Kenji Tanaka (National Institute for Fusion Science, National Institutes on Natural Sciences) and Professor Akihiro Ishizawa (Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University) et al. discovered that turbulence is suppressed at a specific condition in the Large Helical Device(LHD)*3 using precision laser diagnostics. Furthermore, a comparison experiment of hydrogen plasma and deuterium plasma*4, and simulations on the Raijin supercomputer reveal that the turbulence suppression occurs when the turbulence mode changes. Our findings are expected to be applied to the establishment of innovative operation scenarios for fusion power plants and their design for turbulence suppression.
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