A magnetic coil is a breakthrough? It seems like something they should have tried years ago.
I thought that fusion reactors have used extreme magnetic fields for containment since the beginning. They have big superconducting magnets as far as I know.
There are like 5-10 different fusion approaches each with several subsets, currently being pursued. Magnetic confinement fusion (the one ur referring to) utilizes retarded strong magnetic fields to contain and attempt to stabilize a plasma torrid. This experiment is inertial confinement fusion (ICF) which uses lasers to compress and contain a plasma fuel pellet (not in a torrid). This experiment is also indirect ICF meaning the lasers are compressing a physical container (in this case a novel gold and tantalum alloy) that contains the fuel pellet or gas. The main point of this experiment was the orientation of the magnetic field being axial and not linear.
However, this experiment is apples to oranges comparison. "They also switched the gas from hydrogen to deuterium (another kind of hydrogen)". They changed both the fuel and novel alloy at the same time so there is no baseline. Furthermore, the study (paid for by us) is behind a paywall sooo, I can't tell you what statistical analysis/DOE they used to account for this change...
That's because the theoretical wizards of smart don't concern themselves with earthly solutions. That's why it's called "SCIENCE!" If it works it's called "engineering".
Janitor mopping up must have asked, "Have you fellas tried a coil on it." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AynXoLjYrKc
(post is archived)