Meeting of minds

UK research in nuclear fusion has received a significant boost with the creation of a Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics at the University of Warwick.

Under the directorship of Sandra Chapman, who heads plasma astrophysics at

, and Richard Dendy, who leads the theoretical physics group at UKAEA's

, the centre is being backed by a £5m Science and Innovation award from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

Plasma physics is an essential part of the push to create a practical way of using nuclear fusion to generate power.

Two light nuclei - the heavy isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium - are heated to extremely high temperatures, about 100m

C, and confined closely together using magnetic fields.

This causes the two nuclei to fuse, forming a helium nucleus and a neutron, releasing energy. At such high temperatures, the nuclei of the hydrogen atoms and their electrons dissociate and this gaseous mixture of free-charged particles is termed 'plasma'.