Please use the links below to explore the Research Projects carried out by Columbia Plasma Physics Laboratory staff and students, both on-campus, nationally, and overseas.
Active Control of Tokamak Instabilities
Columbia Plasma Lab researchers have long pioneered the study of active control of tokamak instabilities.
Disruption Mitigation Research
Design against off-normal events is an essential part of fusion energy research. The rapid quench of the tokamak plasma (called a 'disruption') releases a burst of energy into the reactor vessel that must be controlled. Research involves designing systems and techniques to manage this energy release in a benign manner.
Disruption Prediction in Tokamaks
Understanding the chain of events that leads to abrupt plasma terminations is a focus of Columbia tokamak research.
Equilibrium and Stability of Spherical Tokamaks
Spherical tokamaks are compact high-pressure fusion devices. Understanding their states of equilibrium and how stable they are is key for future energy production.
Reactor Scenario Development
Columbia scientists combine the most promising elements of tokamak research to produce stable and powerful plasmas.
Theory of Stellarator Configurations
By utilizing more complex magnet geometries, a high temperature plasma can be confined without any internal currents.
Tokamak Edge Stability
Like the surface of the sun, the edge of tokamak plasmas are susceptible to bursty instabilities that must be controlled to interface the hot plasma to a material wall.