Scientists propose an explanation for puzzling electron heat loss in fusion plasmas

Creating controlled fusion energy entails many challenges, but one of the most basic is heating plasma - hot gas composed of electrons and charged atoms - to extremely high temperatures and then maintaining those temperatures. Now scientist Elena Belova of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and a team of collaborators have proposed an explanation for why the hot plasma within fusion facilities called tokamaks sometimes fails to reach the required tem...