PMI research group news

On Wednesday 20 April, DIFFER performed the first material properties measurement with the institute's new ion beam facility. This is a milestone in the setting up of this new experiment, which uses a beam of fast ions to probe advanced energy materials.

In order to win clean and sustainable energy from nuclear fusion, researchers need to protect the wall of their reactor against the hot plasma (ionised gas) in their artificial sun. PhD student Stein van Eden and his colleagues at DIFFER discovered that a thin layer of molten metal can dilute and disperse the plasma.

When the hot, dense plasma in a fusion reactor hits the reactor's exhaust wall, dust particles will inevitably erode from the wall and be swept away by the plasma, or ionised gas. But how do these dust particles travel and where do they end up?

On Thursday 28 May, a new 3.5 MV ion accelerator for materials research moved into the new DIFFER building.