The confinement performance of magnetically confined fusion plasmas is affected by turbulence at various scales. Understanding not only the effects of turbulence at each scale but also the interactions between these turbulent eddies is a critical research challenge for realizing efficient fusion power reactors.

A research group led by Professor Tokihiko Tokuzawa and Project Professor Katsumi Ida of the National Institute for Fusion Science, graduate student Tatsuhiro Nasu of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, and Professor Shigeru Inagaki of Kyoto University has developed a precise measurement system capable of simultaneously observing turbulence at different scales at the same location within the high-temperature plasma of the Large Helical Device (LHD). They discovered that large turbulent eddies deform smaller turbulent eddies, thereby suppressing their growth. Conventional models of plasma confinement did not account for this cross-scale interaction mechanism. This finding provides important insights for predicting the plasma confinement performance in future fusion power reactors.

A paper detailing these research findings was published in the journal Communications Physics on October 6th.

The research team led by Liang'an Chen from Nanjing Normal University and Liangliang Song from Nanjing Forestry University has made a new breakthrough in the field of conjugated diene chemistry. Based on the neutral reaction mechanism of oxidative addition-reductive elimination and utilizing a ligand angle control strategy, they achieved palladium-catalyzed regio-, chemo-, and stereoselective coupling of propargyl alcohol esters with a variety of nucleophiles (including fluorides, phenols, alcohols, carboxylic acids, and amides), constructing a series of high-value-added multi-substituted conjugated dienes. The practicality of this method has been demonstrated through the application and transformation of these functionalized 1,3-dienes in cycloaddition and coupling reactions, as well as the subsequent modification of natural products and bioactive molecules. The article was published as an open access research article in CCS Chemistry, the flagship journal of the Chinese Chemical Society.

New research demonstrates a simple, eco-friendly method to break down Teflon® – one of the world’s most durable plastics – into useful chemical building blocks.

In APL Bioengineering, researchers develop a system that uses optical spectroscopy to measure blood flow noninvasively. Using speckle contrast optical spectroscopy, the device can target different depths to distinguish between blood flow to the scalp and blood flow to the brain. The team demonstrated its use by temporarily blocking blood flow to the scalp at the superficial temporal artery and isolating its blood dynamics.