DIII-D reports the first experimental confirmation of helicon current drive
From the Energy digest for Oct 30, 2026
What happened: Researchers at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility published a Physical Review Letters paper describing the first experimental confirmation of helicon current drive, a method that could be used to operate a steady-state tokamak in the regimes that would be used for fusion power.
What's genuinely new: A peer-reviewed first — the technique moves from theory to demonstrated experiment, pointed at the steady-state operation problem that power-producing tokamaks would face.
Watch: Replication by other tokamak teams, integration into steady-state reactor design studies, and whether commercial tokamak developers pick the technique up.
Links: American Nuclear Society · Oct 30, 3:13 PM ET