Levitated Dipole

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A Levitated Dipole is a unique form of fusion reactor technology using a solid superconducting torus, magnetically levitated in the reactor chamber. The superconductor forms magnetic lines of force of a nature similar to Earth's or Jupiter's magnetospheres, and it is believed that such an apparatus could contain plasma more efficiently than other fusion reactor designs.

On Friday, August 13, 2004 at 12:53 PM, the Levitated Dipole Experiment, a collaboration between Columbia University and MIT, successfully energized a superconducting torus with RF and momentarily created plasma within the magnetic field of the dipole ^[1]. The LDX team has since succesfully conducted its first levitation tests, including a 40 minute suspension of the superconducting coil on February 9, 2007 ^[2].

[edit] References

[edit] External link

• Columbia University/MIT LDX Homepage

Fusion power v • d • e
Atomic nucleus | Nuclear fusion | Nuclear power | Nuclear reactor | Timeline of nuclear fusion Plasma physics | Magnetohydrodynamics | Neutron flux | Fusion energy gain factor | Lawson criterion
Methods of fusing nuclei
Magnetic confinement: - Tokamak - Spheromak - Stellarator - Reversed field pinch - Field-Reversed Configuration - Levitated Dipole Inertial confinement: - Laser driven - Z-pinch - Bubble fusion (acoustic confinement) - Fusor (electrostatic confinement) Other forms of fusion: - Muon-catalyzed fusion - Pyroelectric fusion - Migma
List of fusion experiments
Magnetic confinement devices ITER (International) | JET (European) | JT-60 (Japan) | Large Helical Device (Japan) | KSTAR (Korea) | EAST (China) | T-15 (Russia) | DIII-D (USA) | Tore Supra (France) | ASDEX Upgrade (Germany) | TFTR (USA) | NSTX (USA) | NCSX (USA) | UCLA ET (USA) | Alcator C-Mod (USA) | LDX (USA) | H-1NF (Australia) | MAST (UK) | START (UK) | Wendelstein 7-X (Germany) | TCV (Switzerland) | DEMO (Commercial) Inertial confinement devices Laser driven: - NIF (USA) | OMEGA laser (USA) | Nova laser (USA) | Novette laser (USA) | Nike laser (USA) | Shiva laser (USA) | Argus laser (USA) | Cyclops laser (USA) | Janus laser (USA) | Long path laser (USA) | 4 pi laser (USA) | LMJ (France) | Luli2000 (France) | GEKKO XII (Japan) | ISKRA lasers (Russia) | Vulcan laser (UK) | Asterix IV laser (Czech Republic) | HiPER laser (European) Non-laser driven: - Z machine (USA) | PACER (USA) See also: International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility