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National Institute for Fusion Science

Research Activities

Research Report2015

Research Updates December 7, 2015
Transmitting Electromagnetic Waves for Plasma Heating with High Efficiency and High Quality: Numerical Simulation of Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in Waveguides

In the Large Helical Device (LHD) we heat electrons in plasma by using high frequency electromagnetic waves. In the method called electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECH) we inject powerful electromagnetic waves generated by a device called a gyrotron. ...

Press ReleaseEurekAlert! November 16, 2015
Accelerating fusion research through the cutting edge supercomputer

At the Inter-University Research Institute Corporation National Institutes of Natural Sciences National Institute for Fusion Science, for the first time in the world, using the newly installed "Plasma Simulator" we have simulated deuterium plasma turbulence in the Large Helical Device (LHD). ...

Research Updates November 16, 2015
Investigating Plasma’s “Thread-like” Behavior by Computer Simulation: Microscopic Effects in Edge Plasma

Inside a vacuum vessel of a high-temperature plasma experiment device such as the Large Helical Device (LHD), we confine high-temperature high-density plasma by generating a magnetic field container. ...

Press ReleaseEurekAlert! November 11, 2015
Discovery of a new confinement state for plasma

The National Institutes of Natural Sciences National Institute for Fusion Science applied the "Momentary Heating Propagation Method" to the DIII-D tokamak device operated for the United States Office of Science, Department of Energy, by the General Atomics and made the important discovery of a new plasma confinement state. ...

Research Updates October 27, 2015
Enhancing the High Efficiency of Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating: Estimating How Electromagnetic Waves Curve

In order to realize fusion energy the plasma temperature must be raised to more than 100,000,000 degrees. In the Large Helical Device (LHD), we are conducting research on the confinement of high-temperature plasma in a twisted nested container with magnetic fields that are invisible to the eye and produced by electromagnets. ...

Research Updates October 5, 2015
LHD Plasma in Which Impurities Naturally Decrease: Research on Impurity Transport in Edge Plasma

By being confined in a doughnut-type magnetic field container, high-temperature plasma that aims for nuclear fusion power generation does not touch the vacuum vessel. ...

Press ReleaseEurekAlert! October 5, 2015
A 2-dimensional microwave camera has been developed

The National Institutes of Natural Sciences National Institute for Fusion Science has developed a high-speed two-dimensional microwave camera for performing diagnostics of high-temperature plasma. ....

Research Updates September 14, 2015
Analyzing Big Data at High Speed!: Developing a High-speed Plasma Analysis System

In the LHD, typically one time every three minutes a plasma that lasts for a few seconds is generated. ...

Press ReleaseEurekAlert! Jun 1, 2015
Plasma for medical and biological uses: New electron density diagnostic method

The National Institutes of Natural Sciences, National Institute for Fusion Science and The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Frontier Sciences Department of Advanced Materials Science research group have developed an electron density diagnostic method for atmospheric pressure low-temperature plasma that is anticipated to be applicable for the fields of environmental protection and of medicine and biology. ...

Research Updates August 24, 2015
Microwave Imaging: New Image Diagnostic Techniques Born of Fusion Research

“Seeing is believing.” In hospitals, too, observation of lesions through image diagnosis methods such as CT and echo is being conducted. ...

Research Updates August 3, 2015
Data Analysis of Waves Inside a Plasma: Cooperating with Basic Plasma Experiments

For the realization of fusion energy, in the plasma experiment devices around the world beginning with the Large Helical Device (LHD) research is being conducted for producing and maintaining high-temperature plasmas. ...

Research Updates July 13, 2015
Measuring the Electric Field Structure in a Plasma: Two-Dimensional Electric Potential Diagnostics through the Heavy Ion Beam Probe Method

Plasma is in a state whereby ions possessing a positive electrical charge and electrons possessing a negative electrical charge are scattered. ...

Research Updates June 22, 2015
Seeking Materials Stronger at Higher Temperatures: The Development of Oxide Dispersion-Strengthened Metals

In the fusion reactor, we convert the energy from particles generated by the fusion reaction that occurs in a plasma into heat and use that heat for producing energy. ...

Research Updates June 1, 2015
Long-Term Prediction of the Temperature and Density of Plasma Made Possible: Computer Simulation Research Focusing on the Butterfly Effect

At the National Institute for Fusion Science, using the Large Helical Device (LHD) we are conducting research in magnetic field confinement of plasma whose temperature exceeds 100,000,000 degrees. ...

Research Updates May 14, 2015
Electron Density Diagnostics with a Harmonic Interferometer: Joint Research toward Plasma Applications in Environmental and Medical Fields

Plasma is studied not only for fusion energy, but also for applications in various other fields. In particular, recently, application research in environmental and medical fields has flourished. ...

Research Updates April 6, 2015
Using a Coolant Containing Lithium to Remove Heat from Plasma: Developing a Coolant Circulation Loop that Simulates the Fusion Power Generation System

In the future fusion energy generation we will remove heat from high-temperature hydrogen plasma and generate energy through a steam turbine. ...

Press ReleaseEurekAlert! April 9, 2015
Plasma flow damping observed due to stochastization of the magnetic field

Katsumi Ida and colleagues at the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) and Shigeru Inagaki of the Research Institute for Applied Mechanics (RIAM) of Kyushu University in Japan have clarified in experiment how the flow of magnetically confined plasmas is damped when the magnetic flux surface confining the plasma is disturbed (stochastization of the magnetic field). This is the first such observation in plasma for nuclear fusion in the world. ...

Research Updates March 23, 2015
Clarifying the Particle Acceleration Mechanism through Shock Waves in a Plasma: Introducing Research Utilizing the Plasma Simulator

Plasma, which is a collection of charge-bearing particles, engages in movements that are extremely varied and complicated. ...

Research Updates March 11, 2015
Measuring Negative Hydrogen Ion Density in Plasma: Seeking to Enhance High Performance Negative Ion Sources

In the Large Helical Device (LHD), in order to heat plasma confined by the magnetic field to a high temperature we use a neutral particle beam injection device. ...

Research Updates February 23, 2015
Controlling Convection: Numerical Simulation Using Supercomputers

When we raise the temperature of gas, electrons separate from atoms and ions are born, and each ion and electron take on a plasma condition and move about freely. I...

Research Updates February 9, 2015
The 18th Plasma Experiment Cycle Concluded: Advances in High-Performance Plasma

The plasma experiments on the Large Helical Device (LHD) conducted during this academic year concluded on February 5, 2015. Since beginning in 1999, this was the eighteenth round of experiments. ...

Research Updates February 2, 2015
High-speed Photography of Changes in Plasma: High-speed Soft X-ray Camera Measurements

The Large Helical Device (LHD) confines high-temperature plasmas by making them float in the container that is ringed by magnetic lines of force. ...

Research Updates January 19, 2015
New Developments in Research on Steady State Plasma: Maintaining High-performance Plasma for an Extended Period

In the Large Helical Device (LHD), which is able to generate the magnetic field that confines plasma only through superconducting coils, it is possible to maintain high-temperature plasma in a steady state manner. ...

Research Updates January 5, 2015
Investigating Periphery Plasma by Inserting a Needle: The Electrostatic Probe Diagnostic

In the Large Helical Device (LHD) a magnetic field container is composed by a helical-shaped electromagnet, and plasma is confined therein. ...