Google enters in the fusion research

Machine-learning researchers at Google Research have developed in collaboration with researchers at Tri Alpha Energy a new computer algorithm which has significantly speeded up the optimization of its C-2U plasma generator.

On 25 July, the researchers published a report in the journal Scientific Reports describing the “Optometrist Algorithm” , a machine-learning tool that aids in choosing parameters to hold hotter nuclear plasma for longer periods in fusion experiments, one of the keys to cracking the complex code of nuclear fusion.

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China achieves the world’s longest high confinement fusion discharge

The EAST machine. Source: Institute of Plasma Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences

The Institute of Plasma Physics at Chinese Academy of Sciences have set a new world record in fusion by achieving 101.2 seconds in the so-called H-mode confinement regime in a fusion reactor on the 3rd of July.

The experiment was conducted on Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) reactor at the Institute of Physical Science in Hefei, China.

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Our research results at the 44th European Physical Society Conference on Plasma Physics

The 44th European Physical Society Conference on Plasma Physics took place in Belfast, Northern Ireland, from the 26th to the 30th of June, 2017. It  is the largest annual conference in the field organized in Europe, with more than 600 delegates each year.

This year our group members Mervi Mantsinen, Shimpei Futatani and Nathan Oliveira de Lopes participated in the conference.

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Fusion in our energy future according to TV series El dia de demà

On Monday 26th June, the Catalan TV Channel 33 interviewed our group leader Prof. Mervi Mantsinen regarding to the prospects of fusion energy and its potential impact on society.

The programme was a part of the documentary series El dia de demà which investigates and discusses many possible future scenarios through the point of view of experts. The topics treated in the various programmes of the series are various, ranging from education to energy sources.

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Our Nature Physics paper in the BSC News

Interior view of Alcator C-Mod (left) and JET (right) tokamak reactors where experiments reported in the Nature Physics paper were carried out. Source: Plasma Science and Fusion Center, MIT and EUROfusion.

Our group members Mervi Mantsinen and Dani Gallart have participated in the paper “Efficient generation of energetic ions in multi-ion plasmas by radio-frequency heating”, currently available as Advance Online Publication on the Nature Physics website.

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BSC Fusion group presents results at the EUROfusion material modelling meeting in Zagreb

Picture of the meeting, Source: Institut Ruðer Bosković, EUROfusion.

Last week our group member Marc Eixarch and his supervisor Stephan Mohr from the Material Science Group at the Computer Applications in Science and Engineering Department of BSC participated at the Fusion Material Modelling meeting in Zagreb, organized by EUROfusion under the Work Package WPMAT-IREMEV and held by the Croatian Fusion Research Unit. This meeting had the objective of sharing the new results on radiation damage in fusion materials.

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