Fusion researchers from all over the world meeting in Greifswald

International Stellarator Heliotron Workshop / 5 to 9 October 2015

Some 200 scientists from all over the world are meeting at the 20th International Stellarator Heliotron Workshop in Greifswald in the second week of October.

Some 200 scientists from all over the world are meeting at the 20th International Stellarator Heliotron Workshop in Greifswald in the second week of October. Fusion specialists are getting together to discuss the latest results in plasma physics and fusion research. This year’s meeting is being organised by the Greifswald branch of Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP). Preparations for operation of Wendelstein 7-X are now in progress, which will be the world’s largest fusion device of the stellarator type.

The two-yearly conference is concerned with physical and technical questions relating to stellarators and its heliotron variation. The objective of fusion research is to develop a power plant favourable to the climate and environment that derives energy from fusion of atomic nuclei as the sun and the stars do. Igniting the fusion fire in a future power plant requires that the fuel, a hydrogen plasma, be confined in magnetic fields and heated to temperatures exceeding 100 million degrees. The conference accordingly covers a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from the properties of different magnetic field structures, and the diverse phenomena influencing the confinement of plasma particles, to questions relating to fusion power plants.

The conference is taking place at Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald, which supports interdisciplinary and international research projects.