UW is home to diverse activities in plasma science and fusion energy research
Established in the early 1960’s, the plasma and fusion research program at UW is one of the broadest university research and graduate education programs in these areas in the US. It includes several high-performance plasma confinement experiments, collaborations in national and international experiments, a cross-disciplinary theory and computation effort, a comprehensive fusion technology program, and a center for plasma-aided manufacturing. The departments of Engineering Physics, Physics, and Electrical and Computer Engineering host the research and education programs in fusion and plasma science at UW.
Please explore the programs and activities below to get more information. Thank you for your interest!
| Experimental Fusion and Plasma Science – experimental plasma physics research to advance the scientific and technical basis for magnetic fusion energy (Department of Engineering Physics) |
| Pegasus-III Toroidal Experiment – high beta confinement in a low aspect ratio spherical torus device (Department of Engineering Physics) |
| 3D PSI – Three-dimensional plasma surface interaction (PSI), plasma accelerator and material science (Department of Engineering Physics) |
| Plasma Turbulence and Spectroscopy Group – spectroscopy diagnostic systems and measurement techniques to investigate the turbulence and transport properties of fusion plasmas (Department of Engineering Physics) |
| Center for Plasma Theory and Computation – theoretical problems in the physics of laboratory and natural plasma (multiple departments) |
| Helically Symmetric eXperiment (HSX) – transport, turbulence, and confinement in a quasi-helical stellarator device (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) |
| Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory – basic plasma physics research across experimental, theoretical, and computational activities (Department of Physics) |
| Fusion Technology Institute – solving technological problems posed by fusion energy (Department of Engineering Physics) |