New light being shed on the secrets of fusion
4 Dec 2009
A £2 million upgrade to the MAST Tokamak's Thomson scattering laser diagnostic will give UK physicists unprecedented insights into the behaviour of fusion plasmas. The MAST experiment, located at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) in Oxfordshire, now has the world's most advanced system for recording the plasma temperature and density profiles, aiding research into nuclear fusion as a future energy source. The upgrade, part-funded (£400,000) by the University of York and the Northern Way collaboration of Regional Development Agencies, was completed in September 2009 and the diagnostic is already providing data exceeding its design specifications.
