About FES

Mission

The FES mission is to expand the fundamental understanding of matter at very high temperatures and densities and to develop the scientific foundations needed to develop a fusion energy source. This is accomplished by studying plasmas and their interactions with their surroundings under a wide range of temperature and density, developing advanced diagnostics to make detailed measurements of their properties, and creating theoretical and computational models to resolve the essential physics.

The physics of plasmas is at the heart of understanding how stars shine and evolve over billions of years. Plasmas, essentially hot gases of ions and electrons, are found in environments as familiar as fluorescent lighting and lightning bolts, as unimaginably harsh as the centers of stars, and as exotic as the environments surrounding super massive black holes. The science of plasma physics that describes the plasmas in these environments also describes the auroras that gently illuminate the northern and southern skies and the solar corona, where temperatures are far higher than on the sun’s surface. At the scale of the very small, plasma physics and materials science combine to enable the exquisitely precise manufacture of semiconductors. Plasma science is also at the heart of advances in efficiencies in the lighting industry.

Edmund Synakowski, Associate Director of Science for Fusion Energy Sciences

SC-24, Germantown Building, U.S. Department of Energy

1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC  20585-1290

Phone: 301/903-4941  Fax: 301/903-8584