US fusion team demonstrates helicon radio-wave current drive in hot plasma
Researchers at General Atomics’ DIII-D facility in California demonstrated helicon current drive, using radio waves to generate current inside hot fusion plasma, according to Interesting Engineering. The test showed core power deposition and current drive, but the researchers still need higher-power trials to establish whether the method can support full-power, continuous reactor operation.
Bottom line — The DIII-D result establishes the method’s core physics; higher-power testing remains the next step.
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Interesting Engineering reports that the team used a purpose-built travelling-wave antenna to direct high-frequency radio waves into the plasma.
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The technique aims to sustain current without relying solely on a central transformer coil, which requires reactors to stop and reset.
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The tests were conducted at modest power and in low-confinement modes, Interesting Engineering says.
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A 2018 study in Scientific Reports examined a different radio-frequency current-drive method, lower hybrid drive, using modelling for ITER and DEMO rather than a helicon experiment.
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ScienceDaily’s 2020 article covered radio waves for stabilising magnetic islands in plasma, a separate fusion-control problem.