Columbia University is joining forces with one of Europe’s leading plasma physics laboratories in a bid to bring fusion power closer to reality. The university and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Germany have announced a new transatlantic research center, backed by $13.3 million over five years, that will link labs in Manhattan with two of the world’s most advanced fusion machines.
The Max Planck Columbia Center “Optimizing Symmetry in Fusion Plasmas” is set to begin work in 2027. It will be led jointly by Thomas Klinger, a director at IPP, and Carlos Paz-Soldan, associate professor of applied physics and applied mathematics at Columbia Engineering and director of the Columbia Fusion Research Center.
Two approaches to the same goal
Fusion researchers have long pursued two main designs for confining superhot plasma with magnets: the doughnut-shaped tokamak and the more intricately twisted stellarator. The new center is built around the idea that the path to a working power plant may run through the strengths of both.
“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,” Klinger said. He added that it is especially important to him that young scientists gain international experience at a world-class university and build lasting networks early in their careers.
Paz-Soldan called IPP “a pre-eminent group in the field” and said the partnership would create “unique opportunities both to develop the fusion workforce and to advance key open scientific questions on the path to fusion energy.”
New York researchers get access to German fusion machines
For Columbia scientists, one of the most tangible benefits is hands-on access to IPP’s flagship facilities: the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator in Greifswald and the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak in Garching. Columbia researchers will automatically receive team-member status at both sites and will be able to take part in experiments.
Exchanges of early-career researchers sit at the heart of the program. Students, doctoral candidates and postdocs may spend up to a year at a partner location in Greifswald, Garching or New York City, depending on the needs of joint projects. Columbia will also create a fixed-term, two-year assistant professor position, to be filled twice over the center’s five-year term, combining teaching and research.
The center will also draw in the private sector. Scientists from fusion companies including Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Proxima Fusion, Thea Energy and Type One Energy will be invited to join working groups and help apply new findings to the next generation of fusion demonstration facilities.
Six research tracks
The scientific program is split into six work packages, each co-led by one coordinator from IPP and one from Columbia:
- Stellarator power exhaust – developing and validating transport and turbulence codes to predict how heat and particles leave optimized stellarators.
- Hybrid tokamak-stellarators – designing a compact, stable magnetic configuration that blends features of both concepts.
- Simulation of transients – modeling sudden events that break plasma symmetry, dump thermal energy and generate fast particles that can damage machine walls.
- Non-planar superconducting magnets – studying quench behavior and the stresses in complex high- and low-temperature superconducting magnets.
- Energetic particles in stellarators – examining how fast particles interact with Alfvénic modes and plasma microturbulence.
- Edge stability of tokamaks – coordinated experiments and multi-machine modeling of large edge instabilities, with a focus on quasi-continuous exhaust and negative-triangularity plasmas.
Who is paying
The center’s budget combines $7.5 million from U.S. sources and €5 million from IPP. Funders include IPP, Simons Foundation International (administered by the Simons Foundation), the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences and Columbia University. The money will cover personnel, workshops, project coordination and the travel and living costs of researcher exchanges.
The Columbia partnership is one of seven new Max Planck Centers the Max Planck Society is launching this year. These are virtual centers rather than physical institutes, designed to connect Max Planck scientists with top international partners. Each is established for five years, with the option of a single extension.
Source: Columbia Engineering