Scientists discover how to turn light into matter after 80-year quest

Scientists discover how to turn light into matter after 80-year quest: The collider experiment that the scientists have proposed involves two key steps. First, the scientists would use an extremely powerful high-intensity laser to speed up electrons to just below the speed of light. They would then fire these electrons into a slab of gold to create a beam of photons a billion times more energetic than visible light.
The next stage of the experiment involves a tiny gold can called a hohlraum (German for 'empty room'). Scientists would fire a high-energy laser at the inner surface of this gold can, to create a thermal radiation field, generating light similar to the light emitted by stars.
They would then direct the photon beam from the first stage of the experiment through the centre of the can, causing the photons from the two sources to collide and form electrons and positrons. It would then be possible to detect the formation of the electrons and positrons when they exited the can.

Sun's fractal surprise could help fusion on Earth - space - 01 May 2014 - New Scientist

Sun's fractal surprise could help fusion on Earth - space - 01 May 2014 - New Scientist: STEREO revealed that when the movement of the wind's particles is perpendicular to the sun's magnetic field, they resemble a fluid, with sections that are smooth, interrupted by bursts of violence...

But when the particles move in parallel with the field lines, they behave very differently, with the turbulence evenly spread, like crinkly mountains that extend as far as the eye can see...

One problem with optimising their energy output is deducing what is going on inside them – inserting a probe isn't an option as it would melt...

By adding the fractal behaviour to their plasma models, fusion scientists may be able to control turbulence, which can cause plasma to escape the magnetic field containing it in the reactor...

Two-laser boron fusion lights the way to radiation-free energy : Nature News & Comment

Two-laser boron fusion lights the way to radiation-free energy : Nature News: One laser created a short-lived plasma, or highly ionized gas of boron nuclei, by heating boron atoms; the other laser generated a beam of protons that smashed into the boron nuclei, releasing slow-moving helium particles but no neutrons...

The boron plasma generated by the laser lasts only about one-billionth of a second, and so the pulse of protons, which lasts one-trillionth of a second, must be precisely synchronized to slam into the boron target. The proton beam is preceded by a beam of electrons, generated by the same laser, that pushes away electrons in the boron plasma, allowing the protons more of a chance to collide with the boron nuclei and initiate fusion.

Computer simulation shows the sun's "heartbeat" is magnetic

Computer simulation shows the sun's "heartbeat" is magnetic: They ran their simulation on University of Montreal supercomputers which are connected to a larger network across the city. In so doing, they observed that though the sun as a whole experiences an 11 year cycle of solar polar reversals (as noted here on Earth by the periodic nature of observable sun spot activity), zonal magnetic field bands undergo a polarity reversal on average every 40 years.

Rocket powered by nuclear fusion could send humans to Mars

Rocket powered by nuclear fusion could send humans to Mars: To power a rocket, the team has devised a system in which a powerful magnetic field causes large metal rings to implode around this plasma, compressing it to a fusion state. The converging rings merge to form a shell that ignites the fusion, but only for a few microseconds...
The UW-MSNW team has successfully demonstrated the metal-crushing process in the UW Plasma Dynamics Laboratory in Redmond. The team had a sample of the collapsed, fist-sized aluminum ring resulting from one of those tests on hand for people to see and touch at the recent NASA symposium.

Illinois Group’s Fusion Reactor Innovation Experiment Proves Successful in China

Illinois Group’s Fusion Reactor Innovation Experiment Proves Successful in China: Ruzic and his students in the Center for Plasma Material Interactions (CPMI) designed a method for molten lithium to self-circulate along the surface of a fusion reactor’s diverter, where excess heat is collected and removed. Such an innovation, Ruzic believes, could reduce the size of a fusion reactor’s radius by a third, while allowing it to produce the same volume of energy.

 “We’re looking at a factor of 10 in cost reductions, at least,” Ruzic said.

The concept, known as LiMIT (Lithium/Metal Infused Trenches), previously was successfully conducted in CPMI laboratories. Ruzic believes the success in China shows that LiMit works on an actual fusion device as well as in the laboratory.

A Step Forward for Fusion

A Step Forward for Fusion: Sandia's MagLIF technique is similar to NIF's in that it rapidly crushes its fuel—a process known as inertial confinement fusion. But to do it, MagLIF uses a magnetic pulse rather than lasers. The target in MagLIF is a tiny cylinder about 7 millimeters in diameter; it's made of beryllium and filled with deuterium and tritium. The cylinder, known as a liner, is connected to Sandia's vast electrical pulse generator (called the Z machine), which can deliver 26 million amps in a pulse lasting milliseconds or less...
 Sandia researcher Steve Slutz led a team that investigated various enhancements through computer simulations of the process. In a paper published in Physics of Plasmas in 2010, the team predicted that break-even could be reached with three enhancements...

Scientists developing pulsed nuclear fusion system for distant missions

Scientists developing pulsed nuclear fusion system for distant missions: “We are trying to develop a small, lightweight pulsed nuclear fusion system for deep space missions...” Cassibry and his team will attempt to drive a hollowed-out puck in on itself, fusing lithium and hydrogen atoms and turning a little of their mass into pure energy.
The “pucks” are approximately two inches wide and an inch thick, smaller than a regulation three-inch puck. They are made of lithium deuteride (LH 2), the lightest metal combined with the middle-weight form of the lightest element...
If the studies work out, they could lead to a system that fuses lithium-deuterium pellets and uses an electromagnetic field as the nozzle for that the exhaust pushes against and also captures part of the energy to recharge the system. That is the next area to tackle if the Z-pinch approach proves out.

Physicists Crack Fusion Mystery - Technology Review

Physicists Crack Fusion Mystery - Technology Review: One reason it's taking decades to develop fusion reactors that can generate electricity is that physicists don't completely understand what's going on in the high-temperature plasma inside a reactor. Under certain conditions, the plasma—which is where fusion reactions take place—disappears in under a millisecond.

A new theory developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) explains what happens just before the plasma disappears...

According to the researchers' theory, islands develop within the plasma that cool off and cause the plasma to disappear. These islands—which are easily identified—could be selectively heated with microwaves, the researchers think, which could keep the plasma stable.

Fusion plasma research helps neurologists to hear above the noise

Fusion plasma research helps neurologists to hear above the noise:  MEG has great potential as a useful diagnostic tool - it is non-invasive and much more comfortable for the subject than other techniques - but the neuromagnetic signal varies fast, the signal to noise ratio is low meaning that such data are challenging to understand.

These challenges - extracting signal from noise in observations that can only be made from external sensors - are also often faced in magnetically confined plasmas for fusion. Fusion plasma researchers at the University of Warwick have developed methods to deal with data analysis problems similar to those faced by the neuroscientists. The Warwick researchers have now shared these methods and analytical techniques with their neuroscientific colleagues in Cambridge and Birkbeck. Together they have been able to carry out new studies that are already beginning to provide new insights into the brain's network - they have made the first map of the dynamically changing network of the brain as it deals with the 'surprise' of the different sounds.

Star power: Small fusion start-ups aim for break-even - New Scientist - New Scientist

Star power: Small fusion start-ups aim for break-even: the Fusion Engine, is the brainchild of a company called Helion Energy, and relies on a very different method of establishing and confining plasmas known as a field-reversed configuration. Discovered at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC in 1960, this process involves accelerating two small, compact balls of plasma into one another at a speed of hundreds of kilometres a second...

Also pursuing the dream is the Canadian firm General Fusion based in Burnaby, British Columbia, using a method called magnetised plasma fusion... It involves igniting fusion in a plasma violently compressed within a cavity created in a spinning sphere of liquid metal.

A Fusion Thruster for Space Travel - IEEE Spectrum

A Fusion Thruster for Space Travel - IEEE Spectrum: "Instead of using deuterium and tritium as the fuel stocks, the new motor extracts energy from boron fuel. Using boron, an 'aneutronic' fuel, yields several advantages over conventional nuclear fusion. Aneutronic fusion, in which neutrons represent less than 1 percent of the energy-carrying particles that are the result of a reaction, is easier to manage."

Overturned scientific explanation may be good news for nuclear fusion

Overturned scientific explanation may be good news for nuclear fusion: "Weller and his colleagues took a fresh look at the hydrogen-boron reaction at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) on Duke’s campus. They expected to confirm the accepted wisdom that a collision of one hydrogen particle and one boron-11 particle produces a single high-energy alpha particle -- which produces electricity well – and two lower energy alphas, which are less useful for generating electricity.
Instead, the team found the collision yields two high-energy alphas, which shoot off at an angle of 155 degrees, along with one lower-energy alpha. The existence of this second high-energy alpha could mean these kinds of fusion systems are able to produce much more electricity than expected, says Duke nuclear physicist and study co-author Mohammad Ahmed..."

Taming thermonuclear plasma with a snowflake

Taming thermonuclear plasma with a snowflake: "While the conventional magnetic X-point divertor concept has existed for three decades, a very recent theoretical idea and supporting calculations by Dr. D.D. Ryutov from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have indicated that a novel magnetic divertor -- the 'snowflake divertor' -- would have much improved heat handling characteristics for the plasma-material interface. The name is derived from the appearance of magnetic field lines forming this novel magnetic interface."

The many faces of the shear Alfven wave

The many faces of the shear Alfven wave: "It has become apparent that Alfvén waves are important in a wide variety of physical environments. They play a central role in the stability of the magnetic confinement devices used in fusion research, give rise to aurora formation in planets, and are thought to contribute to heating and ion acceleration in the solar corona. Shear waves can also cause particle acceleration over considerable distances in interstellar space."

Findings show promise for nuclear fusion test reactors

Findings show promise for nuclear fusion test reactors: "A major challenge in finding the right coatings to line fusion reactors is that the material changes due to extreme conditions inside the reactors, where temperatures reach millions of degrees. The energy causes tiny micro- and nano-scale features to 'self-organize' on the surface of the lithiated graphite under normal plasma-surface interaction conditions. But the surface only continues this pumping action for a few seconds before being compromised by damage induced by the extreme internal conditions, so researchers are trying to improve the material durability, Allain said.
'The key is to understand how to exploit these self-organizing structures and patterns to provide the recycling and also to self-heal, or replenish the pumping conditions we started with,' he said."

Diamond Bullet Fired at 1000 Km/S Could Produce Nuclear Fusion, Chinese Researchers Say | Popular Science

Diamond Bullet Fired at 1000 Km/S Could Produce Nuclear Fusion, Chinese Researchers Say | Popular Science: "A millimeter-sized diamond bullet fired from a linear accelerator could produce nuclear fusion when it collides with a chunk of solid methane, according to a study by Chinese researchers."