Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 1 day ago
Researchers identify a potentially lower-energy route to fusion ignition
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have identified a possible way to reach fusion ignition using less energy.
Fusion aims to combine atomic nuclei in extremely hot, electrically charged gas called plasma.
Ignition is the point at which fusion reactions produce enough heat to keep the process going without continued external heating.
For decades, scientists have used the Lawson criterion to describe the conditions needed for ignition, but it does not show the most efficient way to reach them.
The team’s calculations suggest heating plasma before making it denser could take less energy than increasing its density first.
The researchers also identified a point called the Cordey saddle, where plasma may cross into a state that can sustain its own fusion reactions.
Their findings offer a possible route for fusion research, but the calculations do not establish that the method will work in a reactor.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have identified a potentially lower-energy route to fusion ignition.
Their calculations suggest heating plasma before making it denser could reduce the energy needed to reach ignition.
The work expands the Lawson criterion by incorporating four additional factors that influence fusion performance.
The researchers identified the Cordey saddle, a relatively accessible point on the boundary between plasma that needs outside heating and plasma that can sustain its own fusion reactions.
The findings were published in Physical Review Letters.
- Who
- PPPL physicists Luis Delgado-Aparicio, Masayuki Ono and Jonathan Menard.
- What
- They developed a more comprehensive version of the Lawson criterion and identified a potentially more energy-efficient route to fusion ignition.
- When
- The findings were published on October 10, 2026.
- Where
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, United States.
- Why
- To identify a more efficient way to reach the conditions for a self-sustaining fusion reaction.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Go around the peak instead. You reach the same place in a much smarter way, and you use far less energy.
This story does not have a timeline yet.
- Research institution
- Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
- Researchers
- Luis Delgado-Aparicio, Masayuki Ono and Jonathan Menard
- New approach
- Heat plasma before making it denser
- Additional factors
- Four
- Publication
- Physical Review Letters
Sources
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