Realta and UW-Madison's WHAM holds plasma at 17 tesla, the first HTS-magnet mirror

Realta Fusion/CoSMo mirror fusion (WHAM to Hammir)

WHAM, the Wisconsin HTS Axisymmetric Mirror built by UW-Madison with Realta, made its first plasma on 15 July 2024 using 17-tesla high-temperature superconducting magnets from Commonwealth Fusion Systems. It was the first use of such magnets in a magnetic mirror, an idea from the 1950s that stalled on technical problems.

• Magnets delivered on 1 July; installed, cooled and energised by 15 July.
• Plasma started with a 110 GHz microwave beam.
• WHAM began with a $10M ARPA-E grant in 2020; Realta now provides most of its funding.