Plasma Physics Lab (Plasma Research Center)

AboutAbout the lab

Plasma research aimed at realizing a "sun on Earth."

At the Plasma Research Center of the University of Tsukuba, the Plasma Physics Group works on fusion research that confines plasma using mirror magnetic fields.
Its main device is GAMMA 10/PDX, the world's largest tandem-mirror plasma confinement device, with a total length of 27 m.
To make an ultra-high-temperature plasma compatible with the wall that receives it, the lab studies how to control the plasma in the boundary region between the two, as well as plasma-wall interactions.
The lab is also developing gyrotrons, which are microwave oscillator tubes, and building Pilot GAMMA PDX-SC, a new device that uses superconducting coils.

ResearchResearch themes

The lab tackles one of the major challenges on the way to a fusion reactor: making a fusion plasma core at 100 million degrees compatible with the room-temperature wall that surrounds it. Taking advantage of the characteristics of mirror plasmas, it carries out research on improving plasma confinement, controlling the plasma in the boundary region, and developing heating devices.

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Improving Confinement with Electric Potentials and Fields↗

Building on its results in improving confinement with electric fields, the lab studies how to control plasma transport from the core plasma to the boundary region. Its stated goal is to contribute to establishing methods of internal control, through suppressing fluctuations by potential control and actively controlling particle transport.

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Boundary Plasma Research Using the Open-Ended Magnetic Field↗

To reduce the heat load on divertor plates, the lab studies the physics and control of boundary plasmas and plasma-wall interactions. Using a divertor simulation experiment module placed at the open end of the device, it works on topics such as sustaining detached plasmas in steady state.

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Generation and Heating of High-Performance Plasmas↗

The lab has achieved an ion temperature of 100 million degrees through ion cyclotron resonance heating. It is also developing high-power microwave oscillator tubes called gyrotrons, which are expected to serve as tools for electron heating, driving plasma current, and suppressing instabilities.

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