Science AMA Series: We're scientists at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center. We broke the world record for pressure in a magnetic fusion device on our tokamak’s last day of operation. AUA about our scientific work, our future as a lab, and fusion in general!

Abstract

Hi Reddit, we’re scientists working in the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Last time we were here, redditors helped to extend the life of our tokamak, Alcator C-Mod, to FY2016. This time we are here because we set a world record plasma pressure in Alcator C-Mod on our last day of operation! While C-Mod’s shutdown is definitely a loss to our community of scientists, we’re now turning our attention to the next generation of fusion reactors. We’re particularly excited because we’ve begun to work with high temperature superconductors to design much smaller fusion reactors than ever before, opening up the “high-field approach” to fusion. You can read about our record here, or watch an awesome 360-degree tour of our machine on YouTube. Today we have several research scientists, postdocs, graduate students, and faculty in the C-Mod control room to answer your questions, so ask us anything about our work, future plans, or about fusion in general! We're now live in the control room of Alcator C-Mod until 4pm EST. Ask us anything! Currently here: Prof Ian Hutchinson - MIT Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering (ih) Bob Mumgaard - Research Fellow (bm) Seung Gyou Baek - Research Scientist (sb) Adam Kuang - Ph.D. Candidate (ak) Norman Cao - Ph.D. Candidate (nc) Libby Tolman - Ph.D. Candidate (lt) Alex Creely - Ph.D. Candidate (ac) Sean Ballinger - Ph.D. Candidate (sean) Alex Tinguely - Ph.D. Candidate (at) EDIT 4:08PM: Alright, looks like it's time for us to pack up. Thank you for all of your questions! We'll be still be checking in on this thread regularly so feel free to post any other questions or comments you have :)