Beyond their sparkle, diamonds have hidden talents. They shed heat better than any material, tolerate extreme temperatures and radiation, and handle high voltages while wasting almost no electricity—ideal traits for compact, high-power devices. These properties make diamond-based electronics promising for applications in the power grid, industrial power switches, and places with high radiation, such as space or nuclear reactors.
Diamond’s ability to quickly carry heat away from electronic components allows devices to handle large currents and voltages without overheating. This means smaller devices can be used to switch to high power in the grid or in industrial settings. Diamond’s natural resistance to radiation and extreme temperatures could enable electronics to work reliably in places where traditional silicon devices fail.
A research group has achieved a new plasma confinement regime using small 3D magnetic perturbations that simultaneously suppress edge instabilities and enhance core plasma confinement in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The research results are published in PRX Energy.
Sustained high plasma confinement at both the core and the edge without edge crash events due to edge instabilities is critical for efficient fusion energy production in tokamaks. However, achieving stable, high-core confinement with an internal transport barrier (ITB) is extremely challenging, especially in tungsten-wall devices where tungsten impurity accumulation must be controlled. Furthermore, controlling edge instabilities usually results in degraded core plasma confinement.
In this study, the researchers applied small 3D magnetic perturbations localized at the plasma edge. This method achieved the suppression of edge instabilities and control of tungsten impurities. For the first time, it also enabled the induction and sustained confinement of high-core plasma with an ITB.
Different atoms and ions possess characteristic energy levels. Like a fingerprint, they are unique for each species. Among them, the atomic ion 173 Yb+ has attracted growing interest because of its particularly rich energy structure, which is promising for applications in quantum technologies and searches for so-called new physics. On the flip side, the complex structure that makes 173 Yb+ interesting has long prevented detailed investigations of this ion.
Now, researchers from PTB, TU Braunschweig, and the University of Delaware have taken a closer look at the ion’s energy structure. To achieve this, they trapped a single 173 Yb+ ion and developed methods for preparing and detecting its energy state despite the complicated energy structure. This enabled high-resolution laser and microwave spectroscopy. The research is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
In particular, the researchers investigated energy shifts arising from interactions between the nucleus and its surrounding electrons, also called hyperfine structure. Combined with first-principle theory calculations, the precise measurement results yielded new information about the ion’s nucleus.
Researchers from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have reported the first observation of a dynamic magnetochiral instability in a solid-state material. Their findings, published in Nature Physics, bridge ideas from nuclear and high-energy physics with materials science and condensed matter physics to explain how the interplay between symmetry and magnetism can amplify electromagnetic waves.
A material’s behavior is heavily influenced by its symmetries. One unique symmetry of interest to many physicists is chirality. Chiral materials have non-superimposable mirror images, like a right and left hand. For physicists like Fahad Mahmood, Rafael Fernandes and Jorge Noronha, the nonlinear interaction between chiral materials and light is of particular interest. How do these materials respond when light triggers effects beyond the straightforward, linear response?
“If I have a shiny crystal and I put a red laser on it, I’ll get red light back; that’s a linear response, as the frequencies—or colors—of the incoming and outgoing light are the same,” Mahmood said. “You can go a little further and try to excite some frequency so that it sends back a different color: you put red light on something, and it shines back as green, blue or yellow. That’s nonlinear response.”
How Plasma Control Will Make Fusion Power Possible — Dr. Marco De Baar Ph.D. — Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER) / TU Eindhoven.
Dr. Marco de Baar, Ph.D. is a full professor and Chair of Plasma Fusion Operation and Control at the Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e — https://www.tue.nl/en/research/resear…
In addition to his work at TU/e, Dr. de Baar is also head of fusion research at the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER — https://www.differ.nl/) located on the TU/e campus. As member of DIFFER’s management team, he has also served as the Dutch representative in the European fusion research consortium EUROfusion (https://euro-fusion.org/).
From 2004 to 2007, Dr. de Baar headed the operations department at JET (Joint European Torus), Europe’s largest fusion experiment to date, where he was responsible for the successful operation and development of the reactor. From 2007, he was deputy project leader in the international consortium that develops the upper port launcher. He is program-leader for the Magnetohydrodynamics stabilization work package in ITER-NL (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor — https://www.iter.org/).
Dr. de Baar’s main scientific interest is the control of nuclear fusion plasmas, with a focus on control of Magnetohydrodynamics modes (for plasma stability) and current density profile (for performance optimization). In his research program, all elements of the control loops are considered, including actuator and sensor design, and advanced control oriented modelling. He also has a keen interest in the operations and the remote maintainability of nuclear fusion reactors.
Billions of alkaline-loving microbes could offer a new way to protect nuclear waste buried deep underground. This approach overcomes the limitations of current cement barriers, which can crack or break down over time.
One of the best ways to keep nuclear waste out of harm’s way is to bury it in geological disposal facilities. These are purpose-built containers in tunnels and vaults hundreds of meters underground. Cement is used to provide structural support, seal gaps and encapsulate waste containers. While cement is a strong material, groundwater eventually reacts with it, forming microscopic cracks and pores through which radiation could escape.
This problem is made worse because traditional cement is extremely alkaline (pH greater than 12) and corrosive, which can weaken nearby protective layers such as clay barriers, potentially compromising a facility.
Two related discoveries detailing nanocrystalline mineral formation and dynamics have broad implications for managing nuclear waste, predicting soil weathering, designing advanced bioproducts and materials and optimizing commercial alumina production.
The two recently published studies combine detailed molecular imaging and molecular modeling to sort out how gibbsite, a common aluminum-containing mineral, forms and dissolves in exquisite detail.
Axions are hypothetical light particles that could solve two different physics problems, as they could explain why some nuclear interactions don’t violate time symmetry and are also promising dark matter candidates. Dark matter is a type of matter that does not emit, reflect or absorb light, and has never been directly observed before.
Axions are very light particles theorized to have been produced in the early universe but that would still be present today. These particles are expected to interact very weakly with ordinary matter and sometimes convert into photons (i.e., light particles), particularly in the presence of a strong magnetic field.
The QUAX (Quest for Axions/QUaerere AXion) collaboration is a large group of researchers based at different institutes in Italy, which was established to search for axions using two haloscopes located in Italy at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (LNL) and Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF), respectively.
