Breakthrough in Z-pinch implosion stability opens new path to fusion

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Using magnetic field thermal insulation to keep plasmas hot enough to achieve thermonuclear fusion was first proposed by the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi in 1945, and independently a few years later by Russian physicist Andrei Sakharov. An approach known as magneto-inertial fusion uses an implosion of material surrounding magnetized plasma to compress it and thereby generate temperatures in excess of the 20 million degrees required to initiate fusion. But historically, the concept has been plagued by insufficient temperature and stagnation pressure production, due to instabilities and thermal losses in the system.