The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor, or TFTR, has been the first device ever used to produced control thermonuclear fusion power with "optimized" isotopic mixtures of deuterium and tritium fuel.
As part of these experiment, Columbia University in collaboration with scientists from PPPL and MIT has investigated the influence of current profiles on plasma stability.
During one of our recent experiments, a rapid disruption occurred after a strong "FishBone" instability transported energetic deuterons and tritons to the vacuum vessel wall. A time-frequency spectrogram of the FishBones are shown below.
Last Update: September 4, 1995