Tokamak

A toroidal magnetic-confinement device; the most-studied fusion configuration.

A tokamak confines plasma in a doughnut-shaped magnetic field made from external toroidal-field coils and a current driven through the plasma itself. It is the most experimentally mature fusion configuration. HYPERION is a compact, low-aspect-ratio tokamak — a spherical tokamak.

The tokamak's combination of a strong externally-produced toroidal field and a plasma-driven poloidal field gives it the best-studied and highest confinement of any concept, but at the cost of needing to drive and control that plasma current and to manage disruptions. HYPERION is a compact, low-aspect-ratio member of this family.