Recent News

December 19, 2022

MIT scientists contribute to the success of National Ignition Facility fusion milestone

On that morning of December 5, for the first time ever, the lasers delivered 2.1. megajoules of energy and yielded 3.15 megajoules in return, achieving an historic fusion energy gain well above 1—a result verified by diagnostic tools developed by the MIT PSFC.

PSFC News

November 29, 2022

Ian Hutchinson: Probing Plasma

“When I look up at the moon with my sweetheart, my wife of 48 years, I imagine that streaming from its dark side are electron holes that my students and I predicted and that we then discovered,” says Ian Hutchinson. “It’s quite sentimental to me.”

MIT News

November 1, 2022

Machine learning facilitates “turbulence tracking” in fusion reactors

PSFC researchers and colleagues are using machine learning to track turbulent structures ("blobs") in fusion plasmas, which can affect the energy generated during fusion reactions.

MIT News

October 21, 2022

Seven from MIT (2 from PSFC) named APS Fellows for 2022

The American Physical Society elected Prof. Nuno Loureiro and Research Scientist Fredrick Seguin to be 2022 APS Fellows, 2 of 7 from MIT.

School of Science, MIT

October 19, 2022

2022 Ronald C. Davidson Award goes to Ian H. Hutchinson

AIP Publishing has selected MIT Professor Ian H. Hutchinson as the recipient of its 2022 Ronald C. Davidson Award for Plasma Physics for his paper, “Electron holes in phase space: What they are and why they matter.”

AIP Publishing

September 29, 2022

PSFC researchers honored with John Dawson Award

Three members of the PSFC High-Energy-Density Physics (HEDP) Division have been honored with the APS John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research: Maria Gatu Johnson, Richard Petrasso and Johan Frenje.

PSFC News

September 26, 2022

Finding community in high-energy-density physics

As part of the PSFC's High-Energy-Density Physics Division, graduate student Skylar Dannhoff is discovering the collaborative world of fusion research.

Plasma Science and Fusion Center

September 21, 2022

Plasma Science and Fusion Center hosts third annual Computational Physics School for Fusion Research

“This year we could feel a palpable excitement about being back in the classroom, without virtual borders between the lecturers and the participants of the programs,” says Cristina Rea.

PSFC News

August 24, 2022

MIT students contribute to the success of historic fusion experiment

MIT has contributed to the success of the ignition program at the National Ignition Facilty for more than a decade by providing and using a dozen diagnostics, implemented by MIT PhD students and staff, which have been critical for assessing the performance of an implosion, like the one pictured.  

PSFC News

August 8, 2022

Zach Hartwig to receive 2022 FPA Excellence in Fusion Engineering Award

MIT Robert N. Noyce Career Development Professor, Zach Hartwig

PSFC News

July 14, 2022

Donald “Bruce” Montgomery, former PSFC Associate Director, dies at 89

It is with great sadness and profound appreciation that we note the passing at age 89, of Dr. Donald Bruce Montgomery, a pioneer in the development and engineering of large-scale electro-magnets.

PSFC News

July 8, 2022

Fusion’s new ambassador

High school student Tuba Balta engages new audiences through her MIT PSFC internship.

PSFC News

June 28, 2022

Noah Mandell wins Frederick A. Howes Scholar in Computational Science award

Noah Mandell, a postdoctoral fellow at the Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC), is one of two recipients of a 2022 Frederick A. Howes Scholar in Computational Science award.

PSFC News

June 28, 2022

Tapping into the million-year energy source below our feet

MIT spinout Quaise Energy wants to repurpose coal and gas plants into deep geothermal wells by using PSFC Research Engineer Paul Woskov's gyrotron drilling technology to melt rock.

MIT News

June 8, 2022

Evan Leppink: Choosing sides

Graduate student Evan Leppink will explore a new way to drive current in a tokamak plasma using radiofrequency (RF) waves during his residency at DIII-D in San Diego, CA.

PSFC News

June 2, 2022

PSFC to explore geothermal stimulation technology

PSFC has received ARPA-E funding to participate in the development of next generation geothermal stimulation technology.

Plasma Science and Fusion Center

May 16, 2022

For plasma with a hot core and cool edges, Super-H Mode shows promise

PSFC research scientist Theresa Wilks participated in research at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility that demonstrated how, in a fusion tokamak, a high-performance operating regime called Super H-mode can leverage the use of impurities to improve core-edge integration.

Energy.Gov

May 14, 2022

Justin Kunimune wins prestigious LRGF fellowship

Kunimune will spend time at the LLNL working with Dan Casey PhD ’12 in Verena Geppert-Kleinrath’s research group.

NSE News

May 13, 2022

Researchers stick out their necks to understand how fusion plasmas fuel up

MIT’s Aaron Rosenthal and other researchers are using a new camera diagnostic to understand neutral particles at the boundary of fusion devices.

Energy.Gov

May 13, 2022

Poet Kealoha Wong ’99 to speak at the MIT Classes of 2020 and 2021 Graduation Celebration

Hawaii's poet laureate Kealoha Wong ’99, who was an intern at the PSFC, will deliver the keynote address at the Classes of 2020 and 2021 Graduation Celebration.

MIT Alumni Association

May 12, 2022

Practically changing the world

PSFC Director Dennis Whyte received  a 2022 University of Saskatchewan Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his significant accomplishments since graduating from USask.

University of Saskatchewan News

May 9, 2022

How the Universe got its magnetic field

By studying the dynamics of plasma turbulence, MIT researchers are solving one of the mysteries of the origins of cosmological magnetic fields.

PSFC News

May 6, 2022

MIT expands research collaboration with Commonwealth Fusion Systems to build net energy fusion machine, SPARC

New five-year agreement will support SPARC science, increase graduate students and post-docs, and support interdisciplinary work towards fusion power plants

PSFC News

May 6, 2022

New leadership team launches a revisioning of the future of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center

Five from Center assume new duties to support the growth of collaborations, research, and education at MIT

PSFC News

May 5, 2022

PSFC TFMC team leaders honored with Infinite Mile Awards

In a ceremony held on May 5, the team leaders for the Plasma Science and Fusion Center’s Toroidal Field Model Coil (TFMC) received 2022 MIT Infinite Mile Awards.

PSFC News

April 6, 2022

Turning neutrons into fusion fuel

“One of the things that you get good at while at MIT,” says PSFC research scientist Sara Ferry, “is being able to start from nothing on a particular system or skill and knowing how to approach it in a way that’s effective.”

PSFC News

April 6, 2022

Machine learning, harnessed to extreme computing, aids fusion energy development

MIT research scientists Pablo Rodriguez-Fernandez and Nathan Howard predict the temperature and density profiles of a magnetically confined plasma via first-principles simulation of plasma turbulence.

PSFC News

March 22, 2022

Martin Greenwald: Finding the questions that guide MIT fusion research

As Martin Greenwald retires from the PSFC, he reflects on time at MIT, pursuing the question of how to make the carbon-free energy of fusion a reality.

PSFC News

February 25, 2022

Finding her way to fusion

Zoe Fisher's undergraduate research journey leads to a role working on the SPARC tokamak.

PSFC News

February 22, 2022

John Rice on Plasma Rotation

John Rice's new book "Driven Rotation, Self-Generated Flow, and Momentum Transport" consolidates an understanding of the topic gained from years of experience at MIT.

PSFC News

February 11, 2022

European scientists demonstrate fusion energy record

On the CBC radio show "The Current" (located halfway down this page), PSFC Director Dennis Whyte responds to the news of a fusion breakthrough at JET in the UK.

CBC News

February 10, 2022

Gatu Johnson and Frenje receive NNSA Secretary’s Honor Award

PSFC's Maria Gatu Johnson and Johan Frenje were part of a team who won the NNSA Secretary's Honor Award for the achievement of a Burning Plasma at the National Ignition Facility.

PSFC News

February 9, 2022

Tuning in to invisible waves on the JET tokamak

In England for the last two years, research scientist Alex Tinguely has been overseeing a special antenna used on the UK’s record-breaking fusion experiment.

PSFC News