Super hot plasma made easy with stabilising fibres

Carbon fibre blocks could make it easier to create uniform high temperature plasma for manufacturing and research
In a plasma, electrons separate from atoms and create a soup of charged particles that can be extremely hot and bright. This is particularly useful for manufacturing certain types of high temperature materials — and for experimenting with new materials. But plasmas can be hard to control, and existing methods require specialist equipment. Now a new technique using carbon fibres has been shown to be able to create a stable plasma with a uniform temperature — and the researchers say their kit will be much easier to construct in physics labs around the world.
Subscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03776-y
This story originally appeared on: Nature - Author:Shamini Bundell