IEC on the raise, tokamaks in stagnation?

Reflections on fusion history, current events, and predictions for the 'fusion powered future.
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Maciek Szymanski
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IEC on the raise, tokamaks in stagnation?

Post by Maciek Szymanski »

I'm working on the seminar on IEC reactors (a general overview and historical perspective) and made an interesting query. I've check number of results given by Google Scholar search engine per decade for "Inertial Electrostatic Confinement" and "Tokamak":


CB5DF4E8-17DB-40B8-B78A-EB2BAF0C3530.jpeg

Off course "Tokamk" returns much more results. But first - there is a steady rise of number of publications on IEC after expiration of the ITT patents in 1980s, and second - number of tokamak publications has exploded in 1970s but in the last three decades there is visible stagnation. So IEC is the future of the fusion research (I deliberately don't say energy production)? ;-) (please note, that the y axis has a logarithmic scale)
Last edited by Maciek Szymanski on Mon Oct 18, 2021 4:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
“Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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Richard Hull
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Re: IEC on the raise, tokamaks in stagnation?

Post by Richard Hull »

A very interesting trend, indeed. At some point someone has to be the lucky donkey, the fusion "Becquerel", and mindlessly stumble onto the little door that others will pry open.
The chemists blew the doors open last time on radiation in the 1890s. Will chemists stumble on fusion? Physicists have been tilting at the windmill for years.....and zip....

We need never fear an accidental runaway fusion reaction. Fusion does not work that way.

Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
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