Chapter 34 Ding Yi Controlled Nuclear Fusion_1

Returning to the main topic, after listening to Ding Yi's account, I gained a deeper understanding of that stubborn girl.

Lin Sen: "Thank you very much, you've allowed me to know a different side of my cousin. Don't be too sentimental, everyone has their choices, and I support hers. It may well be the best destination for her."

"Okay, let's talk about future work arrangements. You've spent some time at the PDC Human Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research Base. What do you think about their research, and do you see any possibility of a breakthrough in the near future?"

Ding Yi: "They overthrow their previous designs almost every year and build new controlled fusion devices. They've poured almost everything into it and will spend a fortune to construct and test any possible method.

Such investments are effective; at the very least, they confirmed that more than ten methods, previously theoretical, are unfeasible. They also extended fusion time to 43 minutes and achieved a net energy gain, although that's only the ratio of input to output energy during fusion, not accounting for the whole system's input energy. Despite this, it's an incredible achievement.

This time they've assembled many of the most expensive materials and built the latest reactor, using the Super Collar and Superconductor Material to increase magnetic field strength. They constructed a new, super-large Stellarator, coded ST-739U. The experiment is likely to fail again, unless there's an accident, and even if successful, it might not be of much use.

They've invested most of their resources in experimenting with new materials. Despite the rapid advancements in materials due to lifting technological embargoes, yielding remarkable results that would have taken decades previously.

But this can't continue indefinitely. In fact, they've made no significant theoretical advances in materials science over the years. How far can they go without theoretical support? They will eventually hit a ceiling. Sophon seems to have locked down all human theory, including the mind. Sophon didn't block research in materials, but in a way, we have locked ourselves out. Scientists of this era are the saddest, preferring to study complex mathematics rather than touching anything related to physics."

Lin Sen: "You played an important role in the research group, did your departure affect the research group?"

Ding Yi: "No, it won't have an impact. I was primarily responsible for theoretical research and validating plans, and I didn't have any breakthroughs there. Moreover, process design is not my field of expertise."

Lin Sen: "How much hope do you hold for their current research?"

Ding Yi: "I do have hope, it feels like we are just one step away. But I'm not very optimistic about their future. They seem insane, expending countless resources every day on verifying unfeasible plans, like building block toys with different materials, each time accumulating experience for the next.

In fact, I can see that they don't want to be idle. Many of their designs they know won't work, yet they still invest heavily into research. Maybe the only thing sustaining them is the hope that a miracle might happen."

Lin Sen: "How long do you think they need to make a breakthrough, to create a practical controlled fusion device, the kind that can provide us with vast amounts of energy, even one that could be used as the propulsion system for future warships, becoming a non-propellant radiation power engine?"

Ding Yi: "I'm not sure when the useable controlled fusion device will be built, maybe in a year or two, or maybe not even in a decade.

Even if we could build it now, it would be the most primitive way of fusion, and sourcing the fusion material is a big problem. Even if we solved all these problems, it wouldn't quickly enter a practical stage; there's a long way to go.

Right now, the way we utilize fusion energy is essentially boiling water. We feel everything is very close to success, but what are we missing?

And even if such controlled fusion is successful, it might not be very useful to humanity for the time being. The breakthrough humanity needs, we fail to provide it promptly.

The power for future warships, which is the miniaturization of controlled fusion devices, is even further off."

Lin Sen: "So, the current approach to controlled fusion is essentially trial and error, much like Edison inventing the light bulb, although that story isn't so true. But trial and error might be the only way, and it's just a matter of time until we find the right filament.

Dr. Ding, could you introduce the pathways to controlled fusion? Additionally, do you have other hypotheses or research regarding those pathways? Or have you envisioned alternative approaches? I hope your team continues to research new pathways to controlled fusion in the near future. Just use your imagination, any idea can be proposed."

Ding Yi: "You're right, they are trialing and erring. Currently, they keep improving two methods of fusion: magnetic confinement fusion and inertial confinement fusion. I've also imagined some alternatives and proposed new pathways, which proved unfeasible. Nowadays, my mind is nearly always filled with new pathways to achieve controlled fusion.

Controlled fusion depends on a combination of three critical factors: temperature, plasma density, and sufficient containment time.

Magnetic confinement fusion, such as tokamaks, stellarators, magnetic mirrors, reverse fields, spherical torus, and other devices, are focused on increasing the speed of the plasma (reaction temperature). The key here is the control of the topology of the billion-degree high-temperature plasma under magnetic confinement, which humans haven't studied much and can't accurately model.

Inertial confinement fusion, also known as laser confinement fusion, is simply understood as making fusion material into a Fusion Target Ball, surrounding it with powerful Laser Beams, symmetrically compressing the thermonuclear fuel target ball, causing the gas inside the small ball to compress, raising pressure and temperature sharply.

When the temperature reaches the needed ignition temperature (approximately several billion degrees), the gas inside the small target ball undergoes a fusion explosion, producing a large amount of heat energy. The key is that this explosive process is very short, only a few picoseconds, and the power that current laser or particle beams can achieve is still dozens to hundreds of times less than what is needed.

So, the principles of controlled fusion are relatively simple; the conditions, however, are exceedingly difficult to reach."

Lin Sen: "Dr. Ding Yi, I know very little about the pathways to controlled fusion, but I think that the likelihood of these two methods being successful is not very high. According to the above methods, whether it is the materials or the control required, it exceeds the heights humanity can reach now. We must find another way to stand a chance."

Lin Sen knew that in the original timeline, humanity would soon build a successful device, but the magnetic confinement and inertial confinement pathways were unlikely to succeed. Thus, either Ding Yi has another way, or we can only borrow the "Sun's" path.