Promising new results from Alcator Available to Purchase

New results from the MIT tokamak caused quite a stir when they were reported at the APS plasma‐physics division meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida in mid‐November. The experiment, known as “Alcator,” achieved a value for the Lawson number, $Nτ$ (where N is the peak particle density and τ is confinement time) greater than $1013 sec/cm3.$ This value for $Nτ$ is five times greater than has been achieved in any other confinement experiment. It is generally believed that an $Nτ$ of about $1014 sec/cm3$ and an ion temperature of about 6 keV must be achieved to reach breakeven conditions for a fusion plasma.