PPPL physicists find a more efficient route to nuclear fusion ignition

Researchers at the DOE's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory updated the decades-old Lawson criterion with four additional factors: helium ash, plasma impurities, synchrotron radiation and heat losses. Their calculations suggest heating plasma before compressing it sharply cuts the energy needed for ignition.

• Updated Lawson criterion adds four plasma loss factors
• Heating before compression is a cheaper path to ignition
• In ideal plasma the Cordey saddle sits near Q of 5
• Findings published in Physical Review Letters