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Plasma Research Center Lab (Faculty in Physics and Engineering and Visiting Faculty)
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The center studies fusion plasmas with mirror-type devices, aiming to realize a "sun on Earth."
AboutAbout the lab
A plasma research hub working to realize a "sun on Earth."
The Plasma Research Center is a hub for plasma fusion research, using GAMMA 10/PDX, the world's largest tandem mirror plasma confinement device.
The center works on one of the biggest challenges in realizing a fusion reactor: making a 100-million-degree fusion plasma core coexist with the room-temperature wall that surrounds it.
The center also studies how to control the boundary plasma between the core and the wall, and develops high-power microwave oscillation tubes (gyrotrons).
A new superconducting mirror-type device is currently under construction.
Key terms
- Tandem mirror
- A type of device that confines plasma with a mirror magnetic field. GAMMA 10/PDX is a device of this type.
- Gyrotron
- A high-power oscillation tube that serves as a microwave source for heating plasma.
- Boundary plasma
- Plasma in the region between the hot central part of the plasma (the core) and the wall.
- Divertor
- The plates (divertor plates) placed in the part of a fusion reactor wall that receives the highest heat load.
NewsLab news
View More ↗ResearchResearch themes
Toward realizing fusion reactors, the Plasma Research Center divides up key challenges that make full use of the strengths of mirror plasmas, and carries out research along its set themes. Using the large device GAMMA 10/PDX, it works on transport control from the core plasma to the boundary region and on developing plasma heating devices.
*Illustrative imageControlling plasma transport with electric potentials and electric fields
This research controls plasma transport, from the core to the boundary region, with electric potentials and electric fields to improve confinement. Using heating devices and potential control, it contributes to achieving both high confinement and reduced heat and particle loads on the divertor plates.
*Illustrative imageBoundary region research using an open-ended magnetic field
Taking advantage of the open-ended magnetic field configuration of GAMMA 10/PDX, the lab studies the physics and control of boundary plasma and plasma-wall interactions, with the aim of greatly reducing the heat load on the divertor plates. A divertor simulation experiment module is installed at the west end section, aiming to make a high-performance plasma of several hundred million degrees coexist with a room-temperature wall.
*Illustrative imageGeneration and heating of high-performance plasma
Ion cyclotron resonance heating has achieved an ion temperature of 100 million degrees near the central region of the device. The lab also continues to develop gyrotrons, high-power microwave oscillation tubes expected to serve as tools for electron heating and other purposes, and these are also used in fusion experiment devices at other institutions.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Plasma Research Center consist of faculty and students in the doctoral, master's, and undergraduate programs.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorNaomichi Ezumi
- Assistant ProfessorSatoshi Togo
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Experimental hall of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator at IPP Greifswald 07” Siarhei Besarab / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Controlling plasma transport with electric potentials and electric fields: “General Fusion plasma injector ( )” Eye Steel Film from Canada / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Boundary region research using an open-ended magnetic field: “Fusion pellet research in )” Oak Ridge National Laboratory / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Generation and heating of high-performance plasma: “High-voltage cage for the gyrotron heating system of Wendelstein 7-X” Siarhei Besarab / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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