The world’s most advanced stellarator, Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), has reached a historic milestone in nuclear fusion research.
Scientists from Europe and the US have worked in collaborations and have set a new world record for Key Fusion Performance Metrics, known as triple products. This is a combination of plasma density, temperature, and confinement time.
This achievement shows the highest value ever maintained for long-term plasma discharge, and significantly advances the possibilities of stellarators as future fusion power sources.
This breakthrough reinforces the role of Wendelstein 7-X as a major candidate in the global pursuit of clean, virtually infinite energy through fusion.
What makes the Wendelstein 7-X unique
Based in Greifswald, Germany, the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) is run with EuroFusion support, and the Wendelstein 7-X is designed to test the survival rate of stellarators for practical energy production.
Unlike the more widely studied tokamac design, the stellarator relies solely on complex magnetic fields to contain overheated plasmas, eliminating the need for currents running through the plasma itself.
The recent experimental campaign, known as OP 2.3, concluded with a record-breaking performance highlighting the potential for stellarators to meet and surpass the critical benchmarks needed for future fusion power plants.
Fusion Performance Smash Record
On May 22, the final day of the OP 2.3 campaign, the Wendelstein 7-X team maintained the world’s best triple product for 43 seconds.
This surpassed the previous best set by well-known Tokamak devices such as the Japan JT60U and the British jet.
These tokamaks achieved higher peak values than shorter bursts, but the ability of Wendelstein 7-X to maintain high performance over time indicates a major change in what is possible with magnetic confinement fusion.
This achievement is particularly important for fusion power generation. In this case, a long and stable plasma discharge is essential for practical and economical energy output.
Promote the future with advanced pellet injection
This new record was made possible by a sophisticated hydrogen pellet injector developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in the United States.
The device injected frozen hydrogen pellets, each about 1 millimeter in size, into the plasma over a 43-second discharge process. At the same time, the plasma was heated using a powerful microwave beam through a process known as electron cyclotron resonance heating.
The precise adjustment between pellet injection and heating allowed researchers to maintain an ideal balance between fuel supply and energy input.
For the first time, the pellet injector worked using a pre-programmed variable rate. This is a method that will be applied directly to future fusion reactor designs.
This innovation has proven essential to achieving the sustainable, high-performance plasma needed to break records.
Other major milestones from OP 2.3
Beyond the triple product record, the campaign saw two additional breakthroughs. The Wendelstein 7-X increased its total energy turnover to 1.8 Gigajours during the 360-second plasma run, surpassing its previous 1.3 Gigajour records.
This level of sustained energy input and heat removal closely reflects the requirements of a functioning fusion reactor.
In another series of experiments, the researchers achieved 3% plasma and magnetic pressure over the entire plasma and plasma volume. By deliberately reducing the magnetic field and increasing plasma pressure, they recorded an ionic temperature of approximately 40 million degrees Celsius.
This ratio approaches the 4-5% range required for commercial scale fusion energy production, providing another strong indicator of stellarator survival.
Global efforts to drive breakthroughs
The results at the Wendelstein 7-X were the result of extensive international cooperation. European labs provided an important foundation. Spain’s CIEMAT contributed to the simulation model, while Hungary’s Hanlen Centre deployed ultra-fast cameras to analyze the behavior of the pellets.
The microwave heating system was developed with expertise from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Stuttgart.
Meanwhile, plasma diagnosis was performed using the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Ipp Greifswald tools to measure temperatures above 30 million degrees Celsius.
These partnerships combine some of the most advanced technology with the scientific minds in the fusion community and demonstrate the value of global collaboration in solving one of the greatest challenges of energy science.
A promising path to fusion power
With these latest results, Wendelstein 7-X not only demonstrates theoretical predictions, but also demonstrates the ability of the stellarator in actual experimental conditions.
As fusion research intensifies globally, this steller is now leading to a critical area: long-term, high-performance plasma operation.
By pushing the boundaries of what is possible with Fusion Energy, the Wendelstein 7-X brings you a step closer to the long-standing goal of safe, clean and sustainable fusion power.
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