Magnetic confinement fusion

Magnetic confinement fusion uses magnetic fields to hold hot plasma long enough for atomic nuclei to fuse. Its central challenge is maintaining plasma conditions that produce more fusion energy than the confinement system consumes.

Tokamak: A toroidal fusion device that uses a strong electric current in the plasma alongside external magnetic coils. Its combined magnetic fields are the most widely studied route to magnetic confinement.
Plasma: An ionized gas containing charged particles that respond collectively to electromagnetic fields. Magnetic confinement acts on plasma rather than neutral gas.
Inertial confinement fusion: A fusion approach that compresses and heats tiny fuel targets rapidly, confining them through inertia. It pursues fusion with brief implosions instead of sustained magnetic confinement.
ITER: An international experimental tokamak under construction in France to study burning plasma at large scale. Its goal is to demonstrate sustained fusion power in a magnetic confinement device.
Plasma instability: A growing disturbance in plasma behavior that can degrade confinement or terminate a discharge. Instabilities can rapidly release stored energy or eject hot plasma from a magnetic configuration.
Stellarator: A toroidal fusion device whose twisted magnetic fields are shaped mainly by external coils. It confines plasma without relying on a large plasma current.
Nuclear fusion: A nuclear reaction in which light atomic nuclei combine to form heavier nuclei and release energy. It is the energy-producing reaction that confinement is designed to sustain.
Magnetized target fusion: A fusion approach that combines a magnetized fuel target with rapid mechanical compression. It occupies a middle ground between magnetic confinement and inertial implosion.
JET: The Joint European Torus, a tokamak that conducted major deuterium–tritium fusion experiments in the United Kingdom. Its experiments established key performance benchmarks for magnetic fusion.
Edge-localized mode: A periodic instability at the edge of a tokamak plasma that expels particles and heat toward the vessel wall. Its transient heat loads threaten components facing the confined plasma.

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