LM26 records 3x Te rise and 10x ne gain from lithium liner compression of spherical tokamak plasma
LM26 provides the first quantitative demonstration of compressional heating in a magnetized target fusion geometry with measured 3x temperature and 10x density gains. The work highlights both the promise of transient liner compression and the engineering thresholds that must still be cleared before MTF can compete with tokamak performance metrics.
The authors outline planned LM26 upgrades including higher-energy liners and improved diagnostics. These modifications will test whether the observed compressional-heating efficiency persists at the higher convergence ratios required to approach Lawson criteria, providing a direct experimental benchmark against integrated simulations that currently under-predict boundary losses.
General Fusion: LM26 will exceed 2 keV central electron temperature with 5x radial convergence within 18 months of the reported campaign.
Sources (2)
- [1]Primary Source(https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.23974)
- [2]Supporting Source(https://generalfusion.com/technology/lm26/)