SPARC as a platform to advance tokamak science

Abstract

The unique capabilities of the SPARC tokamak mean that it has the potential to contribute significantly to tokamak science and plasma physics, motivating further collaboration and broader data access beyond the CFS and MIT teams. SPARC is a compact, high-field tokamak that is currently under construction and is predicted to achieve burning plasma conditions once in operation. SPARC experimental data has the potential to advance the understanding of many aspects of tokamak physics, including but not limited to confinement and stability at high field and high density, burning plasma physics, disruption physics, and boundary physics and heat flux management in power plant-relevant conditions. The SPARC team is already a combination of members from Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a privately funded company, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a non-profit university. This article describes the opportunities for the SPARC team to work with other researchers to advance toward a fusion power plant on the fastest possible time scales and to simultaneously broaden scientific understanding of plasma physics, meeting the missions of both CFS and academic partners.