The problem: Fusion reactors make energy similarly to the sun: smashing atoms together to create new particles. This generates a ton of energy and no carbon emissions, but if the reactors don’t have strong magnets, the particles won’t stay in a confined space, making collisions less likely.
The solution: The Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror — or WHAM — recently broke the record for the strongest magnetic field in a fusion reactor, one twice as powerful than in today’s most powerful MRIs. By facing two magnets together — referred to as a mirror machine — the hydrogen ions between them form a plasma cylinder where they run into each other. Researchers previously hadn’t been able to contain plasma this way, but made it work once they got their hands on super powerful magnets that took a decade to develop.
What’s next: WHAM generated the field for only a fraction of a second, but that’s enough to give scientists data to help them better understand mirrored magnets. From there, they can build bigger reactors that let them test different materials and potentially generate more clean power.