Achievement of 1 MA discharges in hydrogen–boron plasmas in the EXL-50U
Abstract One mega ampere (MA) plasma discharges were achieved in the EXL-50U spherical torus (ST) in hydrogen–boron (p–B) plasmas with toroidal fields of up to 1 T at major radii of up to 0.6 m. 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 fuel reached 10%, representing the first publicly reported MA-class p–B plasma with such a high boron concentration. Noninductive 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). At 800 kW of ECRH power, core electron temperatures of up to 3 keV were attained. These results demonstrate the feasibility of producing high-performance p–B plasmas in a spherical torus configuration and offer important physics and engineering insights for future reactor-scale applications—particularly in the areas of current start-up at low loop voltage and real-time boronization techniques.
Authors
- Qi Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1167-6247)
- Guang Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9410-0189)
- C.S. Liu
- B.S. Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9593-5688)
- Yifei Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8169-7131)
- Xin Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7493-1014)
- Songjian Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0965-9114)
- Jiaqi Dong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2062-3040)
- Xiang Gu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0673-3654)
- Huasheng Xie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9204-135X)
- Yong Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9801-9193)
- Y. Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9483-6911)
- Fan Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8464-0747)
- Pan Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5570-2427)
- Minsheng Liu
- Chao Jun Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2825-6337)
- Yujin LI (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1999-8846)
- Enwu YANG
- Yu Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4048-0603)
- Chen Bian
- Wei Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1473-7364)
- Xianming 显明 SONG 宋
- Bing Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9181-8091)
- Tiantian Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4734-6664)
- Ran Tao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5461-5930)
- Zhenxing Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1123-6812)
- Dong Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3746-0839)
- Yupeng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4305-1003)
- Yu Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4919-4390)
- Jia Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2900-9108)
- Yumin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8243-3659)
- Lei Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4556-952X)
- L. Y. Dong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4773-5050)
- Lei Han (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1483-5821)
- Bo Xing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2386-2570)
- Wu Kun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0959-2562)
- Han-yue Zhao
- Xianli Huang
- Shaodong Song
- He Hongming
- Kun Han
- the TCV Team
- Yuanming Yang
- Dong Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9907-8872)
- Xinchen Jiang
- Cong Zhang
- Yuejiang 跃江 SHI 石
- Y-K Martin 元凯 PENG 彭
Institutions
- Hefei University of Technology (CN)
- Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE)
- ENN (China) (CN)
- Southwestern Institute of Physics (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Plasma Science and Technology
- Published
- 2025-07-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1088/2058-6272/adef22
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Magnetic confinement fusion research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.48