Higher plasma densities, more efficient tokamaks

When the density of the hot, ionized gas (known as a plasma) in a tokamak exceeds a certain limit, it usually leads to a rapid loss of heat and plasma currents. The currents are required to confine the plasma. Such events can seriously damage the tokamak. Before the disruption, scientists often observe large magnetic islands. Magnetic islands are thermally isolated, small "bubbles" of plasma. Recent investigations confirmed that scientists could use these islands to correctly predict the density...