Researchers from the U.S. and Germany are launching a $13.3 million project to improve fusion technology and help pave the way for future fusion power plants.
The collaboration brings together scientists from Columbia University and Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) to explore the strengths of Tokamak and stellarator designs and tackle challenges that have held back commercial fusion energy.
The new virtual research center, called the Max Planck Columbia Center “Optimizing Symmetry in Fusion Plasmas,” is one of seven Max Planck Centers being established this year. It is scheduled to begin work in 2027 and will initially operate for five years.
Combining two reactor designs
The research will focus on combining tokamaks and stellarators, two different types of machines designed to harness nuclear fusion for clean energy.
Both use powerful magnetic fields to contain extremely hot plasma, creating the conditions needed for hydrogen isotopes to fuse. However, they approach plasma confinement in different ways.
Tokamaks rely partly on electric currents flowing through the plasma to help keep it confined, while stellarators use complex arrangements of external magnetic coils to create a three-dimensional magnetic field.
This makes stellarators more complicated to design and build, but potentially better suited to continuous operation.
Researchers hope to combine the advantages of both designs to improve plasma stability and develop more practical fusion reactors.
“The Max Planck Columbia Center will bring together two leading institutions in plasma physics and fusion research. We aim to combine the strengths of tokamaks and stellarators to address key scientific and technological questions on the path toward a fusion power plant. It is particularly important to me that early-career researchers gain international experience at a world-class university and build lasting scientific networks from an early stage in their careers,” said IPP director Thomas Klinger.
The collaboration will give Columbia University researchers access to two major German fusion facilities: the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator in Greifswald and the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak in Garching.
Scientists will be able to participate directly in experiments at both facilities, allowing them to test ideas and compare results across the two reactor designs.
The research will also address challenges such as managing extreme heat, preventing sudden plasma disruptions, and improving superconducting magnets used in fusion devices.
Expanding global fusion research
The center will also involve researchers from the private sector, with scientists from Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Proxima Fusion, Thea Energy and Type One Energy invited to participate in working groups.
Early-career researchers, including doctoral students and postdoctoral scientists, will be able to spend up to a year at partner institutions in Germany or New York.
The five-year project will receive $7.5 million from U.S. sources and €5 million from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. Funding will cover research staff, project coordination, workshops and international exchanges.
The center will be co-directed by Thomas Klinger of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and Carlos Paz-Soldan of Columbia Engineering.
“In partnership, we will be able to provide unique opportunities both to develop the fusion workforce and to advance key open scientific questions on the path to fusion energy,” Paz-Soldan said.