Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
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Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a
PPPL grew out of the top-secret
PPPL's stellarators proved unable to meet their performance goals. In 1968, Soviet's claims of excellent performance on their tokamaks generated intense scepticism, and to test it, PPPL's Model C stellarator was converted to a tokamak. It verified the Soviet claims, and since that time, PPPL has been a worldwide leader in tokamak theory and design, building a series of record-breaking machines including the Princeton Large Torus, TFTR and many others. Dozens of smaller machines were also built to test particular problems and solutions, including the ATC, NSTX, and LTX.
PPPL is located on Princeton University's Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey.
History
Formation
In 1950,
Spitzer, a professor of astronomy, had for many years been involved in the study of very hot rarefied gases in interstellar space. While leaving for a ski trip to
Later that year he took this design to the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington. As a result of this meeting and a review of the invention by scientists throughout the nation, the stellarator proposal was funded in 1951. As the device would produce high-energy neutrons, which could be used for breeding weapon fuel, the program was classified and carried out as part of Project Matterhorn. Matterhorn ultimately ended its involvement in the bomb field in 1954, becoming entirely devoted to the fusion power field.
In 1958, this magnetic fusion research was declassified following the United Nations International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. This generated an influx of graduate students eager to learn the "new" physics, which in turn influenced the lab to concentrate more on basic research.[5]
The early figure-8 stellarators included: Model-A, Model-B, Model-B2, Model-B3.[6] Model-B64 was a square with round corners, and Model-B65 had a racetrack configuration.[6] The last and most powerful stellarator at this time was the "racetrack" Model C (operating from 1961 to 1969).[7]
Tokamak
By the mid-1960s it was clear something was fundamentally wrong with the stellarators, as they leaked fuel at rates far beyond what theory predicted, rates that carried away energy from the plasma that was far beyond what the fusion reactions could ever produce. Spitzer became extremely skeptical that fusion energy was possible and expressed this opinion in very public fashion in 1965 at an international meeting in the UK. At the same meeting, the Soviet delegation announced results about 10 times better than any previous device, which Spitzer dismissed as a measurement error.
At the next meeting in 1968, the Soviets presented considerable data from their devices that showed even greater performance, about 100 times the Bohm diffusion limit. An enormous argument broke out between the AEC and the various labs about whether this was real. When a UK team verified the results in 1969, the AEC suggested PPPL to convert their Model C to a tokamak to test it, as the only lab willing to build one from scratch, Oak Ridge, would need some time to build theirs. Seeing the possibility of being bypassed in the fusion field, PPPL eventually agreed to convert the Model C to what became the Symmetric Tokamak (ST), quickly verifying the approach.
Two small machines followed the ST, exploring ways to heat the plasma, and then the
With this string of successes, PPPL had little trouble winning the bid to build an even larger machine, one specifically designed to reach
Later designs
In 1999, the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), based on the spherical tokamak concept, came online at the PPPL.
Odd-parity heating was demonstrated in the 4 cm radius PFRC-1 experiment in 2006. PFRC-2 has a plasma radius of 8 cm. Studies of electron heating in PFRC-2 reached 500 eV with pulse lengths of 300 ms.[10]
In 2015, PPPL completed an upgrade to NSTX to produce NSTX-U that made it the most powerful experimental fusion facility, or tokamak, of its type in the world.[11]
In 2017, the group received a Phase II NIAC grant along with two NASA STTRs funding the RF subsystem and superconducting coil subsystem.[10]
In 2024, the lab announced MUSE, a new stellarator. MUSE uses rare-earth permanent magnets with a field strength that can exceed 1.2 teslas. The device uses quasiaxisymmetry, a subtype of quasisymmetry. The research team claimed that its use of quasisymmetry was more sophisticated than prior devices.[12]
Directors
In 1961 Gottlieb became the first director of the renamed Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.[13][14]
- 1951–1961: Lyman Spitzer, director of Project Matterhorn
- 1961–1980: Melvin B. Gottlieb
- 1981–1990: Harold Fürth
- 1991–1996: Ronald C. Davidson[9]
- 1997 (January–July): John A. Schmidt, interim director[9]
- 1997–2008: Robert J. Goldston[15]
- 2008–2016: Stewart C. Prager[16]
- 2016–2017: Terrence K. Brog (interim)[17]
- 2017–2018: Richard J. Hawryluk (interim)[18]
- 2018–present: Sir Steven Cowley, 1 July 2018[19]
Timeline of major research projects and experiments
Other domestic and international research activities
Laboratory scientists are collaborating with researchers on fusion science and technology at other facilities, including
PPPL manages the U.S. ITER project activities together with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Savannah River National Laboratory. The lab delivered 75% of components for the fusion energy experiment's electrical network in 2017 and has been leading the design and construction of six diagnostic tools for analyzing ITER plasmas. The PPPL physicist Richard Hawryluk served as ITER Deputy Director-General from 2011 to 2013. In 2022, PPPL staff developed with researchers from other national labs and universities over several months a US ITER research plan during the joint Fusion Energy Sciences Research Needs Workshop.[21]
Staff are applying knowledge gained in fusion research to a number of theoretical and experimental areas including materials science, solar physics, chemistry, and manufacturing. PPPL also aims to speed the development of fusion energy through the development of an increased number of public-private partnerships.[22][23][24]
Plasma science and technology
- Beam Dynamics and Nonneutral Plasma
- Laboratory for Plasma Nanosynthesis (LPN)[25]
Theoretical plasma physics
- DOE Scientific Simulation Initiative
- U.S. MHD Working Group
- Field Reversed Configuration (FRC) Theory Consortium
- Tokamak Physics Design and Analysis Codes
- TRANSP Code
- National Transport Code Collaboration (NTCC) Modules Library
Transportation
Tiger Transit's Route 3 runs to Forrestal Campus and terminates at PPPL.
See also
References
- ^ "10 Questions for Steven Cowley, New Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory | Princeton Plasma Physics Lab". www.pppl.gov.
- OCLC 80717532.
- ^ "Timeline". Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
- ISBN 0-684-85934-3.
- ISBN 0-262-02180-3.
- ^ a b "Highlights in Early Stellarator Research at Princeton. Stix. 1997" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-10-09.
- )
- ^ Meade 1988, p. 107.
- ^ The Record, 22 December 1996, p. N-07.
- ^ a b Wang, Brian (June 22, 2019). "Game Changing Direct Drive Fusion Propulsion Progress". NextBigFuture. Retrieved 2019-06-22.
- ^ "National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade (NSTX-U)". Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.
- ^ Paul, Andrew (2024-04-05). "Stellarator fusion reactor gets new life thanks to a creative magnet workaround". Popular Science. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
- ISBN 0-262-02180-3.
- ^ "History". Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Archived from the original on 2009-05-12.
- ^ Stern, Robert (2007) "Princeton fusion center to lose influential leader", The Star-Ledger, Newark, New Jersey, 15 December 2007, p. 20.
- ^ "Press Release, Prager to lead DOE's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory". Retrieved 2008-08-09.
- ^ "PPPL Director Stewart Prager Steps Down". Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.
- ^ "PPPL has a new interim director and is moving ahead with construction of prototype magnets". Princeton Plasma Physics Lab.
- ^ "Steven Cowley named director of DOE's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory". 2018-05-16. Archived from the original on 2018-05-16.
- ^ "ITER and other Collaborations". www.pppl.gov.
- ^ "Fusion Energy Sciences Research Needs Workshop". www.iterresearch.us.
- ^ "Future entrepreneurs get outside their comfort zone in Energy I-Corps workshop". innovation.princeton.edu.
- ^ "New public-private partnership comes to PPPL through a novel program to speed the development of fusion energy". www.newswise.com.
- ^ "Princeton Plasma Physics Lab Teams Up With Tech Start-Up". www.miragenews.com.
- ^ "Laboratory for Plasma Nanosynthesis (LPN)", Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, accessed 16 May 2018.
External links
- Media related to Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory at Wikimedia Commons
- Project Matterhorn Publications and Reports, 1951–1958. Princeton University Library Digital Collections
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Official Website