Overview
The first scientific challenge is to produce more energy than required to operate the reactor. Often, fusion scientists write Q>1, which relates to the ratio of energy out over energy in. More conventional ideas use blankets to capture the kinetic energy of fast neutrons released during fusion. This deposited energy heats the blanket and the water circulated inside thus generating steam to spin a turbine.
While this is a viable idea in theory, fast neutrons cause embrittlement in materials and could damage other parts of the reactor, even turning some areas radioactive, which is not desirable for multiple reasons. The hydrogen boron reaction does not release neutrons, meaning other energy capture methods are needed. It is possible to inductively recapture energy by letting a highly compressed plasma expand and induce a current in the reactor's coils. Repeating this cycle multiple times allows a sinusoid-like flow of energy, where the energy recovered is more due to nuclear fusion when the compression cycle happens.
Fusion experiments suffer from turbulence, in which highly energetic particles can escape the confinement of the magnetic field. This reduces the effectivity of the compression and the reactivity of the fuel. Solving turbulence is the main challenge in plasma instabilities. Small-scale experiments are better suited for the task because they allow for increasing the axial magnetic field strength due to the smaller radius. Rapid iteration of geometries and control flow speeds up the development of commercial fusion. By applying enhanced magnetic turbulence control with experimental AI plasma twin, each test run brings real fusion one step closer.