162 articles
Solenoid-free plasma startup
Solenoid-free plasma startup is starting and ramping up tokamak plasma current without the central solenoid, a key goal for compact spherical tokamaks with little central space.
SPARC first-plasma campaign
The SPARC first-plasma campaign is the initial operating phase of SPARC, a compact high-field tokamak by Commonwealth Fusion Systems in Devens, Massachusetts, aiming for net fusion energy gain.
SST-1
SST-1, short for Steady State Superconducting Tokamak, is a medium-size superconducting tokamak at the Institute for Plasma Research in Gujarat, India, which produced its first plasma in 2013.
Staged Z-pinch
The staged Z-pinch is a magneto-inertial fusion concept introduced in 1995, in which a pulsed current drives a plasma liner onto deuterium fuel; experiments have produced over 10 billion neutrons.
START (tokamak)
START (Small Tight Aspect Ratio Tokamak) was the world's first hot spherical tokamak, a compact, low-cost fusion experiment at Culham, UK, operating from 1991 to 1998.
Startorus Fusion (星环聚能)
Startorus Fusion (星环聚能) is a Chinese private fusion energy startup founded in 2021 as a Tsinghua University spin-off in Xi'an, developing compact spherical tokamaks heated by magnetic reconnection.
Stellarator
A stellarator is a magnetic-confinement fusion device whose twisting field comes entirely from external coils, invented by Lyman Spitzer at Princeton in 1951 and developed alongside the tokamak.
Super X-divertor
The Super X-divertor (SXD) is an advanced magnetic divertor configuration for tokamaks, proposed in 2009, that lowers divertor heat loads and was first implemented on MAST Upgrade.
SuperOx
SuperOx (ЗАО «СуперОкс») is a Russian manufacturer of second-generation high-temperature superconducting wire, founded in Moscow in 2006, which supplies HTS tape to fusion projects including Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment
The Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment was a fusion experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that sustained spheromak plasmas by coaxial helicity injection from 1999 to 2007.
T-10 (tokamak)
T-10 is a large circular tokamak at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow that began operation in 1975 as the largest tokamak of its time, becoming a principal testbed for electron cyclotron heating.
T-15 (tokamak)
T-15 was a superconducting tokamak with Nb3Sn coils operated from 1988 to 1995 at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow, and was dismantled in 2017 to build the upgraded T-15MD.
T-15MD
T-15MD (Токамак Т-15МД) is a Russian divertor tokamak at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow, a modernized successor to T-15 that reached first plasma in 2021.
T-4 (tokamak)
T-4 was a Soviet experimental tokamak operated at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow from 1971, an upgraded successor to the landmark T-3 that hosted pioneering soft-x-ray diagnostics and early disruption physics.
TAE Technologies
TAE Technologies, formerly Tri Alpha Energy, is a private fusion company in Foothill Ranch, California, founded in 1998 by Norman Rostoker to develop reactors based on hydrogen-boron aneutronic fusion, raising nearly $1.4 billion.
Tandem Mirror Experiment
The Tandem Mirror Experiment (TMX) was a magnetic-confinement fusion experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, operating from 1979, that first tested the tandem mirror concept.
TCA (tokamak)
TCA (Tokamak Chauffage Alfvén) was a tokamak at the EPFL plasma physics center in Lausanne, Switzerland, built to study Alfvén wave heating, operating from 1980 to 1992.
TCABR
TCABR (Tokamak à Chauffage Alfvén Brésilien) is a tokamak operated by the University of São Paulo, Brazil, whose main research purpose is investigating plasma heating by Alfvén waves.
TdeV
TdeV (Tokamak de Varennes) was Canada's first dedicated magnetic fusion facility, a medium-small divertor tokamak at Varennes, Quebec, built by a Hydro-Québec-led consortium, producing first plasma in 1987 and operating until federal funding ended in 1997.
Texas Petawatt laser
The Texas Petawatt Laser was a high-power research laser at the University of Texas at Austin that produced a record 1.1 petawatt pulse in 2008 before closing in 2025.
TEXT (tokamak)
TEXT, the Texas Experimental Tokamak, was a medium-sized tokamak at the University of Texas at Austin, completed in 1980 to study plasma turbulence and transport before its transfer to China.
TEXTOR
TEXTOR (Tokamak EXperiment for Technology Oriented Research) was a tokamak at Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany, run from 1983 to 2013 to study plasma-wall interactions for fusion energy.
TFR (tokamak)
TFR (Tokamak de Fontenay-aux-Roses) was France's first tokamak, operated by the CEA at Fontenay-aux-Roses from 1973 to 1986 and the world's most performant tokamak from 1973 to 1976, reaching plasma temperatures of 20 million degrees.
TJ-II
TJ-II is a medium-size heliac-type stellarator operated by Spain's National Fusion Laboratory at CIEMAT in Madrid, producing its first plasma in 1997 with a 1 T magnetic field.
Tokamak
A tokamak is a doughnut-shaped device that confines plasma with magnetic fields, proposed by Andrei Sakharov and Igor Tamm around 1950, and the leading design for fusion power.
Tokamak control
Tokamak control is the real-time feedback and feedforward control that keeps tokamak plasma at desired current, position, shape, and stability, adjusting magnetic coils and heating within milliseconds.
Tokamak Energy
Tokamak Energy is a British company founded in 2009 as a UK Atomic Energy Authority spin-out, developing compact spherical tokamaks with high-temperature superconducting magnets for fusion power.
Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor
The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) was an experimental tokamak at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory that operated from 1982 to 1997 and set world records for fusion power.
Tore Supra
Tore Supra was a French superconducting tokamak at the CEA Cadarache laboratory, producing first plasma in 1988 as the first tokamak with superconducting magnets and actively cooled components, later converted into WEST in 2013.
Tritium breeding ratio
The tritium breeding ratio is the tritium produced in a fusion reactor's lithium blanket per tritium burned in the plasma; it must exceed 1 for self-sufficient fuel.