Dr. Carlos Romero-Talamas explains the recent breakthrough in fusion energy

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Dr. Carlos Romero-Talamas was recently interviewed by WBALTV helping to explain fusion energy to the Baltimore community!   The recent breakthrough made by the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in California has brought fusion energy research to the nation's attention.  Dr. Romero studied and researched at Livermore as a graduate student and postdoc scholar, and continues researching solutions to the fusion energy question, using superconducting magnets instead of lasers  The link for the interview is https://www.wbaltv.com/article/energy-fusion-maryland-researcher-carlos-romero-talamas/42230716.

Dr. Romero-Talamas (UMBC/UMD(IREAP)) is conducting the Centrifugal Mirror Fusion Experiment (CMFX) in the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics (IREAP) at UMD.  This research effort is a collaboration between the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.  It is funded by the ARPA-E-BETHE programme.

The Centrifugal Mirror is a magnetized plasma in mirror configuration that is put into azimuthal rotation by imposition of a radial electric field that sets up an ExB flow. The plasma feels a radially outward centrifugal force, which has a component parallel to the B field that confines the plasma to the midplane. The associated velocity shear stabilizes large and small scale instability. The configuration can in principle confine high temperature plasma at fusion conditions to allow net energy gain from fusion products. The CMFX (Centrifugal Mirror Fusion Experiment) will test this concept by running experiments operating at intermediate fusion conditions, as proof of principle.  

 



 

 

Published December 20, 2022