EAST is the world's first fully superconducting tokamak nuclear fusion experimental device. Compared with the traditional tokamak device, its features are as follows:
First of all, the magnetic field is more binding. EAST changed the magnetic field configuration from the traditional circular cross-section to the non-circular cross-section, which made the plasma current increase with the increase of elongation, the temperature greatly increased and remained stable, and the magnetic field confinement performance was enhanced by 1 times. At the same time, the divertor is introduced, which successfully realizes waste discharge and steady-state operation.
Secondly, the magnets that generate the magnetic field are all superconducting materials, and the reaction time is longer. At ultra-low temperature, the resistance of the superconductor is 0, and there is no heat loss when the current flows through the superconductor, which avoids the disadvantage of interrupting the test process due to overheating of the magnet and prolongs the reaction time.
Third, establish an ultra-vacuum environment to realize the combination of ultra-high temperature and ultra-low temperature. The plasma in the magnetic field must reach hundreds of millions of degrees by various auxiliary heating methods, and the superconducting magnet that generates the magnetic field needs to be kept at -269 degrees, so it is necessary to establish an ultra-vacuum environment to effectively isolate the two systems.