Z-pinch

Also written sheared-flow-stabilised Z-pinch

A current driven straight through a plasma column, whose own magnetic field squeezes it inward. Long set aside as unstable; sheared-flow stabilisation, studied at the University of Washington and pursued commercially by Zap Energy, renewed work on it.

In the record: 2 companies, 2 laboratories and programmes, 5 devices and 0 reactor designs.

Not yet in the record for this approach: reactor designs.

Related approaches

Broader: Magneto-inertial

Companies 2

Laboratories and programmes 2

Devices 5

Operating devices first, then those being built or planned, then those shut down, suspended or cancelled.

FUZE-Q Operating Zap Energy · US
Z Machine Operating Sandia National Laboratories · US
ZEBRA Operating University of Nevada · US
MIFTI Planned Magneto-Inertial Fusion Technologies, Inc. · US
FuZE Status not recorded Zap Energy · US · 1 measurement

Measurements

1 device using this approach carries 1 measurement: 1 claimed. The values, each with its status and source, are on the benchmark and on each device's page. Most measured: FuZE (1).

Guides

Fusion approaches compared Every family of fusion machine, how each holds its fuel, the best result this dataset holds for it, its main unsolved problem and the organisations pursuing it.

Z-pinch in the glossary · Fusion overview · All approaches