Discover
/
Article

MIT tokamak Alcator C exceeds Lawson criterion

FEB 01, 1984

In 1957 John Lawson at Harwell pointed out a crucial minimum requirement for the achievement of net power output from a deuterium–tritium plasma in any fusion device. No matter what the temperature, Lawson showed, a thermalized D–T plasma cannot put out more fusion power than the input power required to keep it hot unless nτ, the product of the ion density and the energy confinement time (often refered to as the confinement parameter or Lawson parameter), exceeds 6×1013seccm−3.

This article is only available in PDF format

Related content
/
Article
In the closest thing yet obtained to a movie of a breaking chemical bond, there’s a surprise ending.
This Content Appeared In
pt-cover_1984_02.jpeg

Volume 37, Number 2

Get PT in your inbox

pt_newsletter_card_blue.png
PT The Week in Physics

A collection of PT's content from the previous week delivered every Monday.

pt_newsletter_card_darkblue.png
PT New Issue Alert

Be notified about the new issue with links to highlights and the full TOC.

pt_newsletter_card_pink.png
PT Webinars & White Papers

The latest webinars, white papers and other informational resources.

By signing up you agree to allow AIP to send you email newsletters. You further agree to our privacy policy and terms of service.