中国“人造太阳”有新发现！

2023-01-10 06:01

据新华社，记者从中科院合肥物质科学研究院等离子体物理研究所获悉，近期该所核聚变大科学团队利用有“人造太阳”之称的全超导托卡马克大科学装置（EAST），发现并证明了一种新的高能量约束模式，对国际热核聚变实验堆和未来聚变堆运行具有重要意义。

1月7日，国际学术期刊《科学·进展》发表了该研究成果。

A new mode of improved plasma confinement was discovered and demonstrated at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui province.

The findings were published in the latest issue of Science Advances on Saturday.

图源：新华社

核聚变能源的原材料在地球上近乎取之不竭，且排放无污染，被视为人类“终极能源”。未来要实现聚变能发电，必须要解决高性能等离子体稳态运行这一关键科学问题。

An abundant, safe, and environmentally competitive energy such as nuclear-fusion mastering is a great challenge for humanity. Tokamak represents one of the most promising paths toward controlled fusion. However, obtaining a high-performance, steady-state, and long-pulse plasma regime remains a critical issue to ensure the feasibility of fusion reactors.

近年来，中国的EAST先后实现“1.2亿摄氏度等离子体运行101秒”“近7000万摄氏度等离子体运行1056秒”等创造世界纪录的重大突破。

At the end of 2021, a steady-state plasma was successfully maintained for a world-record length of 1,056 seconds on the EAST device. The machine and its subsystems were reliable and operated safely, owing to the integration of real-time controls and careful prior preparation. The discovery was made during that campaign.

近期，等离子体所核聚变大科学团队发现并证明了一种新的高能量约束模式，这种先进模式大幅度提高了能量约束效率，并实现了芯部高能量约束与边界低能量损失的兼容，保证了长时间尺度上的高能量约束等离子体运行。这种新的稳态高能量约束模式，对于国际热核聚变实验堆和未来聚变堆运行具有重要意义。

The new high-confinement and self-organizing mechanism not only demonstrates the reliability and advancement of the machine itself but also offers insights into how to stably maintain plasma operation for a long duration, according to the research team from the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“如果把核聚变反应比喻成一道闪电，那么我们的主要目的就是把一道道闪电收集在‘磁笼子’里，聚集更高的能量，然后长时间持续地向外稳定输出这些能量，为人类所用。”中科院合肥物质科学研究院副院长、等离子体物理研究所所长宋云涛说，新发现的高能量约束模式将能“聚集更多的闪电”，不损坏“磁笼子”，并长时间保持稳定运行。