A high-density and high-confinement tokamak plasma regime for fusion energy

S Ding; A M Garofalo; H Q Wang; D B Weisberg; Z Y Li; X Jian; D Eldon; B S Victor; A Marinoni; Q M Hu; I S Carvalho; T Odstrčil; L Wang; A W Hyatt; T H Osborne; X Z Gong; J P Qian; J Huang; J McClenaghan; C T Holcomb; J M Hanson

doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07313-3

A high-density and high-confinement tokamak plasma regime for fusion energy

Nature. 2024 Apr 24. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07313-3. Online ahead of print.

Authors

S Ding¹, A M Garofalo², H Q Wang², D B Weisberg², Z Y Li², X Jian², D Eldon², B S Victor³, A Marinoni⁴, Q M Hu⁵, I S Carvalho², T Odstrčil², L Wang⁶, A W Hyatt², T H Osborne², X Z Gong⁶, J P Qian⁶, J Huang⁶, J McClenaghan², C T Holcomb³, J M Hanson⁷

Affiliations

¹ General Atomics, San Diego, CA, USA. dingsiye@fusion.gat.com.
² General Atomics, San Diego, CA, USA.
³ Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA.
⁴ Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁵ Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
⁶ Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, China.
⁷ Department of Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.

PMID: 38658758
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07313-3

Abstract

The tokamak approach, utilizing a toroidal magnetic field configuration to confine a hot plasma, is one of the most promising designs for developing reactors that can exploit nuclear fusion to generate electrical energy^1,2. To reach the goal of an economical reactor, most tokamak reactor designs^3-10 simultaneously require reaching a plasma line-averaged density above an empirical limit-the so-called Greenwald density¹¹-and attaining an energy confinement quality better than the standard high-confinement mode^12,13. However, such an operating regime has never been verified in experiments. In addition, a long-standing challenge in the high-confinement mode has been the compatibility between a high-performance core and avoiding large, transient edge perturbations that can cause very high heat loads on the plasma-facing-components in tokamaks. Here we report the demonstration of stable tokamak plasmas with a line-averaged density approximately 20% above the Greenwald density and an energy confinement quality of approximately 50% better than the standard high-confinement mode, which was realized by taking advantage of the enhanced suppression of turbulent transport granted by high density-gradients in the high-poloidal-beta scenario^14,15. Furthermore, our experimental results show an integration of very low edge transient perturbations with the high normalized density and confinement core. The operating regime we report supports some critical requirements in many fusion reactor designs all over the world and opens a potential avenue to an operating point for producing economically attractive fusion energy.