While trying out a new device that injects powder to clean up the walls of the world’s largest stellarator, a twisty fusion device known as Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) in Greifswald, Germany, scientists were pleased to find that the bits of atoms confined by magnetic fields within the device got temporarily hotter after each injection. Researchers led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Germany found that pulsed injections of boron carbide, an ingredient in sandpaper, increased the density and temperature of the ultrahot atom fragments, or plasma, leading to better fusion performance.
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Source: Phys.org