Camera Captures Spheromak Plasmas

The promise of limitless, cheap and clean energy from thermonuclear fusion has been intriguing scientists for decades, and it is all the more enticing as we come to terms with the environmental hazards and limited supply of hydrocarbons. Although a viable fusion reactor remains a dream, research in the field continues to mature, introducing novel plant designs. And imaging technology has a place in monitoring the performance of experimental prototypes of these designs.

First-generation reactors, whether based on magnetic confinement or on laser- or ion driven inertial approaches, would compress deuterium and tritium into plasmas hotter than the center of the sun, producing helium- 4 and neutrons.