This laboratory is an "industry" under the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, but this global study is certainly not just a unit of the Institute of Plasma Physics.

Lu Zhou has seen the list of cooperative research units, and the names of those research units are enough to fill a page of a4 paper. If the principle of signature here is the same, as long as you participate in the study of everyone, I am afraid that the first few pages of the paper will be free to write a signature.

However, compared to this large cooperative research group, the imitation star as the object of research is “small”.

Following the footsteps of Professor Kreiber, Lu Zhou and Professor Cui Qing came to the radiation isolation room and finally saw the full picture of the spiral stone 7-x.

Quietly located in the middle of the radiation protection room, the 3.5-meter-high and 16-meter-wide imitation star looks like the "Millennium" of the smuggling cargo shipman Han Solo in Star Wars.

It is just a battle that has just experienced a big battle. At this moment, it is docked in the "Star Harbor" and can only be tinkered by technicians.

As we approached the past, Lu Zhou could clearly see that various sizes of equipment were densely covered on the surface of the device, and numerous cables spread from the equipment to all directions, seemingly tangled together.

"This stuff... how much is it cost?"

"It is said that it is more than one billion euros." Looking at the installation, Professor Cui Qing, standing next to Lu Zhou, said with some admiration, "If you count the cost of research and development together, I am afraid it is an astronomical number."

The funding of the Institute of Plasma Physics is especially envied by the physics counterparts.

It is also clearly the Max Planck Society, which is also the Institute of Physics, but the funds of the Institute of Condensed Matter Physics are much smaller than them.

I admire envy, and Klee also understands this situation.

After all, this multi-country cooperative R&D project is not only funded by the German government, but also in the world.

“So expensive?”

Lu Zhou screamed.

Originally, he still had some expansion to think about whether or not to come over and study and research, but now it seems that it is more realistic to engage in Taiwan’s supercomputer...

"Well, don't worry about how much money, the budget is not something we need to worry about," patted the shoulder of Lu Zhou, Professor Kreb said with a smile. "The final commissioning has been completed, and I am about to start experimenting. Now we Go to the observation room."

......

Unlike the experience at work, the Hadron Collider runs underground at a depth of 100 meters from the beginning to the end. Unless you have a professional qualification engineer, you cannot enter the inside of the pipeline.

Presented in front of the theoretical physicists are just the data on the screen and the images that have been processed further.

Now, in front of the Luzhou, in addition to the detectors connected to various parts of the imitation star, he can even observe the inside of the orbit through a camera-like thing.

In the observation room, all the staff are waiting.

"The track seal test is normal!"

"Filling protective gas!"

“The protective gas is filled and the pressure measurement procedure begins!”

"..."

“Achieve the superconducting critical temperature and the circuit is fully charged!”

"The magnetic field is confirmed to be normal!"

After listening to the reports of the research groups, Professor Kreb immediately issued the command to start the experiment.

"ignition!"

At the moment when the magnet current reaches 15ka, the thyristor switches quickly and the magnet current is transferred to the first-stage energy-consuming resistor, generating 2400v voltage, causing the gas in the vacuum chamber to be broken down, thereby generating plasma.

Lu Zhou saw through the screen, a layer of reddish membranous material, forming a twisted ring in the twisted circular orbit.

To his surprise, this scene is quite beautiful.

"...the temperature of these plasmas will exceed hundreds of millions of degrees after reaching the peak, almost equivalent to the interior of the star. No material can block this burning energy, even if it is found in the solar system." Looking at the screen, Professor Klein said softly next to him.

Lu Zhou asked casually: "How did the imitation star machine do it?"

“Rely on the twisted magnetic field,” explains Professor Klein. “We use magnetic fields to constrain them, bind them to a limited space and keep them away from the inner walls of the track. But even so, it can't last too long...”

The two have been talking, and the experiment has entered the most critical moment.

With the secondary energy dissipation resistance, the thyristor's switch is closed and the voltage drops to 1000v. At the same time, the current rises to the peak value, and the entire track is suddenly filled with the burning light. Even if it is separated by the screen, it feels a bit dazzling.

However, this light did not last long.

In less than six seconds, the light suddenly became loose, just like the flame that was annihilated, disappearing into the screen.

The running star-like device gradually stopped, and the observation room was like a boiling boiled water, and it quickly became busy.

Standing not far from the two, Professor Kreiber ordered the researchers in the observation room: "Collect the data immediately, check the condition of the equipment, and move faster!"

At the same time, the door of the radiation protection isolation room was opened, and the staff wearing the radiation protection suit quickly entered the isolation room with various tools and began to check the condition of the track from the physical level.

Looking at Professor Kreb, who took off his helmet, Lu Zhou squatted slightly.

"This is over?"

"Yes, it's over," threw the helmet on the table, and Professor Kreiber, who came from the side, said with a smile. "Now it only takes a few seconds to discharge. The longest time I remember is about 6 seconds. In the shortest time, only a few picoseconds."

Lu Zhou’s face was speechless.

"...I thought it would be even more amazing."

Professor Kreb grinned: "Theoretically, the discharge time can be made longer, but now the divertor target has not been installed. Excessive discharge time may cause excessive heat load to damage the first wall. Material. Wait a couple of years, after the water-cooled divertor is installed, you can try a 30-minute pulse discharge."

The discharge time here refers to the time during which the basic magnetic field configuration can be maintained in one discharge, that is, the so-called pulse time of one discharge.

30 minutes is the goal of the spiral stone 7-x at the beginning of the design.

If it can be done, the impact on the entire nuclear fusion project will undoubtedly be enormous, and will even affect the choice of the international community on the mainstream technical route of nuclear fusion engineering.

After all, the mainstream choice is the Tokamak device, but the Tokamak device is in a bottleneck in terms of discharge time.

At present, the longest discharge record is maintained at 102 seconds of the "east" of China, which almost marks the ceiling of the technical route of the Tokamak device on the "discharge time", and wants to raise the ceiling by one inch. It must be costly.

Looking at this device, Lu Zhou’s face showed a thoughtful expression.

Suddenly, there was a whimsical thought in his mind.

If the system is to price magnetically constrained nuclear fusion technology, how many points do you need for a technically mature imitation star drawing? -

(Getting a good cold today is better. I will try to break out tomorrow. I can’t go on such a salty fish. In short, let’s make a flag and say...)