Matterhorn S ( for stellarator, another name coined by Wheeler ), under Lyman Spitzer, investigated nuclear fusion as a power source.
22.
Problems with plasma diffusion across the magnetic fields plagued both the mirror and stellarator programs, at rates that classical theory could not address.
23.
This included the latest stellarator designs; the Model C had only recently started working, and was rapidly converted into the Symmetric Tokamak.
24.
By the late 1990s the studies into new stellarator designs had reached a suitable point for the construction of a machine using these concepts.
25.
The stellarator attempts to create a natural twist plasma path, using external magnets, while tokamaks create those magnetic fields using an internal current.
26.
The pinch machines did not use magnetic fields in this way at all, while the mirror and stellarator seemed to have various ways out.
27.
A unique aspect of HIDRA is that it can not only operate as a stellarator but also as a tokamak, hence the hybrid designation.
28.
A worked without issue, but even by the time B was being used it was clear the stellarator was also suffering from instabilities and plasma leakage.
29.
By this point, in early 1951, Lyman Spitzer had introduced his stellarator concept and was shopping the idea around the energy establishment looking for funding.
30.
In the 1970s research at the PPPL refocused on the Russian tokamak design when it became evident that it was a more satisfactory containment design than the stellarator.
