HTS magnets
CFS has developed a revolutionary magnet that will enable the fastest path to commercial fusion energy. These magnets are the key technology breakthrough for CFS, which is using the tokamak approach to fusion based on half a century of proven science. Tokamaks have come closest to achieving commercially relevant net energy for fusion. In the past, limitations on magnet technology required tokamaks to be enormous in size to achieve the magnetic field needed to achieve net energy. CFS, in collaboration with MIT, developed groundbreaking high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets that allow for significantly stronger magnetic fields that can enable smaller, high performing, fusion systems at significantly lower cost.
CFS has built a 20 tesla, large-bore magnet, which it demonstrated in 2021. These high field magnets are the largest of their kind in the world by a factor of 100-1000 in magnet performance. They open a widely identified transformational opportunity for commercial fusion energy. HTS magnets will be used to enable SPARC, the world’s first net energy from fusion device, and then ARC, the first fusion power plant. They also could have alternative applications that include wind turbines, MRI machines, and transportation.