X-ray Crystal Spectrometer Makes Debut at C-Mod
A PPPL/Alcator C-Mod collaboration has resulted in the demonstration of a greatly improved X-ray crystal spectrometer for application to ITER and fusion reactors. Experiments conducted by a PPPL/MIT team in April mark the beginning of a new era in the ability of such devices to determine radial profiles of the ion temperature and the rotational velocity of high temperature plasmas without the need for diagnostic beams. Their success ITER will benefit substantially ITER and other advanced fusion energy systems.
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PPPL Assists in the Development
of Artificial Muscle
PPPL collaborator Lenore Rasmussen has
the gift of serendipity. Two disparate life
experiences sparked the polymer chemist’s
interest in the development of electro-responsive “smart materials” — electrically-driven polymers that are strong and durable enough to act as artificial muscles in prosthetic devices and robotics.
Her early experience identifying DNA proteins and an injury suffered by her cousin in a farm accident triggered her interest in development of the materials. She brings to this work an extensive background in chemistry, biology, and biochemistry.
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Advanced Technology Essential
in NCSX Component Fabrication
The National Compact
Stellarator Experiment’s
18 modular field coils
are among the most complex,
innovative electromagnets ever
designed. Six each of three
coil types are being fabricated.
The 18 winding forms consist
of nonmagnetic stainless steel
castings with winding surfaces
machined to a tolerance of ±
0.010 inch. The largest winding
form is 109 inches tall. Each
form weighs approximately
6,000 pounds. The winding
forms are the structural backbone
of the modular coils system
and are strong enough to
support electromagnetic loads
as high as 7,000 pounds per
inch of coil.
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PPPL Collaboration Yields
Important Fusion Science Advance
In two back-to-back Physical Review Letters, and a full article in Physics of Plasmas, all published in May 2006, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) physicists, along with colleagues from the Netherlands and California, report the first two-dimensional images of local electron temperature fluctuations during the crash time of the so called ‘sawtooth’ instability — one of the most important and familiar plasma phenomenon. The sawtooth instability has never been adequately described, even with the most advanced computer simulations. The experimental work was performed on the TEXTOR device, a tokamak located at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany.
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PPPL Researchers Develop Anti-terrorism Device
Anti-terrorism efforts are getting a boost from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). A team led by PPPL engineer Charles Gentile has developed a Miniature Integrated Nuclear Detection System, called MINDS, which can be used to scan moving vehicles, luggage, cargo vessels, and the like for specific nuclear signatures associated with materials employed in radiological weapons. MINDS could be employed at workplace entrances, post offices, tollbooths, airports, commercial shipping ports, as well as in police cruisers, to detect the transportation of unauthorized nuclear materials.
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Small is Big for PPPL's Paul Trap
The Paul Trap Simulator
Experiment (PTSX) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory doesn't trap people named Paul or simulate the trapping of Pauls. Its mission is much grander.
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Hall Thruster Experiment Underway at PPPL
The Hall Thruster is a plasma-based propulsion
system for space vehicles. The amount of fuel that must be carried by a satellite depends on the speed with which the thruster can eject it. Chemical rockets have very limited fuel exhaust speed. Plasmas can be ejected at much higher speeds, therefore less fuel need be carried on board. During the past quarter century, the Russians placed in orbit about 100 Hall Thrusters. However, the vast majority of satellites worldwide have relied on chemical thrusters and, to a lesser extent, ion thrusters.
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MRI Experiment Underway at PPPL
The formation process of stars and planets remains one of the big questions in astrophysical
science. Currently, scientists do not understand the required conditions and the accretion,
or matter collection process, involved in star and planet formation. But the Magnetorotational Instability (MRI) experiment at PPPL may shed light on this mystery.
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PPPL Researchers Study Plasma Sterilization
Hundreds of billions of plastic food and beverage
containers are manufactured each year in the U.S. All of these packages must undergo sterilization, which at present is done using high temperatures
or chemicals. Both of these methods have drawbacks. Chemicals often leave a residue that can affect the safety and taste of the product, and produce undesirable waste. Heat is effective and sufficiently rapid, but necessitates the use of costly heat-resistant plastics that can withstand sterilization temperatures. What if a new method could be found that eliminated the need for chemicals or heat-resistant plastics?
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