Achievement of 1 MA Discharges in Hydrogen-Boron Plasmas on EXL-50U

Fuente: arXiv
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Autore principale: Shi, Yuejiang
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
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author Shi, Yuejiang
author_facet Shi, Yuejiang
contents One mega ampere (MA) plasma discharges were achieved on the EXL-50U spherical torus (ST) in hydrogen-boron (p-B) plasmas with toroidal fields up to 1 T at major radii up to 0.6m. A key innovation in these experiments was the use of a boron-rich fueling strategy, incorporating a high-concentration boron-containing gas mixture and real-time boron powder injection during the discharges. The boron content in the fueling reached 10%, representing the first publicly reported MA-class hydrogen-boron plasma with such a high boron concentration. Non-inductive plasma startup was achieved using electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), and a rapid current ramp-up to 1 MA was realized through the synergistic use of ECRH and the central solenoid (CS). With 800 kW of ECRH power, core electron temperatures of up to 3 keV were attained. These results demonstrate the feasibility of producing high-performance hydrogen-boron plasmas in a spherical torus configuration and offer important physics and engineering insights for future reactor-scale applications - particularly in the areas of low loop voltage current start-up and real-time boronization techniques.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_08815
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Achievement of 1 MA Discharges in Hydrogen-Boron Plasmas on EXL-50U
Shi, Yuejiang
Plasma Physics
One mega ampere (MA) plasma discharges were achieved on the EXL-50U spherical torus (ST) in hydrogen-boron (p-B) plasmas with toroidal fields up to 1 T at major radii up to 0.6m. A key innovation in these experiments was the use of a boron-rich fueling strategy, incorporating a high-concentration boron-containing gas mixture and real-time boron powder injection during the discharges. The boron content in the fueling reached 10%, representing the first publicly reported MA-class hydrogen-boron plasma with such a high boron concentration. Non-inductive plasma startup was achieved using electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), and a rapid current ramp-up to 1 MA was realized through the synergistic use of ECRH and the central solenoid (CS). With 800 kW of ECRH power, core electron temperatures of up to 3 keV were attained. These results demonstrate the feasibility of producing high-performance hydrogen-boron plasmas in a spherical torus configuration and offer important physics and engineering insights for future reactor-scale applications - particularly in the areas of low loop voltage current start-up and real-time boronization techniques.
title Achievement of 1 MA Discharges in Hydrogen-Boron Plasmas on EXL-50U
topic Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.08815