Design of the W7-X fusion device enables it to overcome obstacles

A key hurdle facing fusion devices called stellarators -- twisty facilities that seek to harness on Earth the fusion reactions that power the sun and stars -- has been their limited ability to maintain the heat and performance of the plasma that fuels those reactions. Now collaborative research by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany, have found that the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) facility in Greifswald, the largest and most advanced stellarator ever built, has demonstrated a key step in overcoming this problem.