The top student must be diligent.

Chapter 199 The God of Calculating Materials
"Build a tokamak device that is all HTSC-1 high-temperature superconducting..."

After listening to Li Jiangan's story, Xiao Yi began to think.

Finally, he said, "For this kind of thing, there's no need for you to come to me, right?"

Li Jiangan shook his head and said helplessly: "The country's funding for controlled nuclear fusion is still relatively conservative. After all, it will take many years to truly realize a commercial reactor with controlled nuclear fusion... or even a demonstration reactor."

"Besides, it's not as easy for us to produce results as it is for particle colliders. The data from a single collision is enough for them to study for many years, and then produce countless articles in Science, Nature, PRL, etc."

"We launch it once and burn money again. Even if it succeeds, the most we can tell people is how many seconds we burned."

"Look at the news that we were able to burn continuously for 100 seconds or 1,000 meters. It sounds very exciting, but in fact, we all know that it is still thousands or tens of thousands of times away from being truly practical."

"Those news reports are just telling everyone that we are making progress."

Li Jiangan sighed: "Controlled nuclear fusion is too difficult."

Looking at the helpless expression of the old academician, Xiao Yi nodded slightly to show his understanding.

The difficulty of controlled nuclear fusion is well known.

What is needed is not just a breakthrough in one field, but a breakthrough in many, many fields.

Moreover, this breakthrough even needs to achieve a breakthrough in the sense of various science fiction works.

Superconductors, even if they are one of them.

The most ideal superconductor for controlled nuclear fusion is the room-temperature superconductor. Controlled nuclear fusion under room-temperature superconductors does not require a series of complex cooling devices and can maximize the huge magnetic field provided by room-temperature superconductors.

Of course, for now, thanks to the performance of HTSC-1, this problem has actually been almost solved.

But apart from superconductors, there is still one biggest problem, which is the first wall material.

The first wall material refers to the material that is in direct contact with high-temperature plasma of hundreds of millions of degrees during nuclear fusion.

Any nuclear fusion device has a first wall material.

Of course, as far as current technology is concerned, the first wall material is not mainly faced with high-temperature plasmas of hundreds of millions of degrees. Because of the cooperation of huge magnetic fields, high temperatures are basically not a problem for these plasmas. In fact, the first wall material only needs to be able to withstand high temperatures of around 1000 degrees Celsius, and the highest is only about 3000 degrees Celsius.

The greatest damage to the first wall material actually comes from neutron irradiation.

Currently, humans mainly use deuterium-tritium fusion reactions in nuclear fusion research, which produces neutrons carrying about 14.1MeV of energy.

Since neutrons do not carry electric charge, even the largest magnetic field cannot control them. Therefore, these neutrons will directly collide with the first wall material at such high energy.

According to calculations, the speed of neutrons at 14.1 MeV reaches about 16.83% of the speed of light.

Naturally, ordinary first-wall materials cannot withstand such terrible neutron impacts and will easily become bumpy or even extremely fragile in such an environment. In extreme cases, even an extremely hard material like tungsten metal can be shattered by a pinch.

Scientists all over the world have been working hard for a long time to develop such materials, but they have not found the ideal materials.

Perhaps only the strong interaction materials in science fiction novels can be resistant to neutron irradiation.

Therefore, for an institute like the Plasma Institute that studies controlled nuclear fusion, it is not as popular as institutes that study other fields.

It is difficult to produce results, and achieving the ultimate goal is like a castle in the air and is difficult to achieve.

"So, we want to reach a cooperation with you, Professor Xiao. With your fame, maybe the higher-ups will be willing to allocate funds for us to build another nuclear fusion device."

Li Jiangan said, "There will also be a share of HTSC-1. I heard that the HTSC-1 factory will be completed soon. There are many companies that want HTSC-1, including those people in quantum computing at HKUST, and those in the Institute of High Energy Physics, and..."

"As for the military, they are asking for too much. They really don't give our research institutes any chance to survive."

Zhao Zhanyou next to him also said at this time: "That's right, we are doing nuclear fusion, at least we are contributing to the future of mankind. Whether human civilization can be upgraded from level 0.7 to level 1 depends on us. Those other researches are useless! Are they as useful as us?"

Everyone present burst into laughter.

Xiao Yi also smiled and shook his head, but after a moment of silence, he still shook his head and said, "Academician Li, I'm sorry, I probably can't agree to this matter now."

Li Jiangan's expression remained unchanged, but there was still a hint of disappointment and helplessness in his eyes.

He sighed and said, "Okay, I know this request is a bit embarrassing for Professor Xiao."

After all, Xiao Yi was not studying their nuclear fusion. If they dragged Xiao Yi here and it was really built, it would nominally seem to belong to both the Science Island Laboratory and their Plasma Institute, but in fact, only their Plasma Institute had the talents in this field.

Even Xiao Yi himself has not studied nuclear fusion or nuclear physics.

What's more, he had just been thinking about expanding the Science Island Laboratory, which also required money. If he asked for money again because of the Plasma Institute's affairs, although he is now an important talent, it is obvious that the higher-ups will not allow him to ask for money. This is not a matter of millions or tens of millions, but a matter of hundreds of millions.

However, Xiao Yi was not a too cold person. After all, other people had spoken for him.

So, he then said: "However, apart from this matter, I can agree to other conditions."

"For example, I can help you get more shares of HTSC-1."

"Although we cannot build new controlled nuclear fusion facilities for the time being, I believe that HTSC-1 can help you conduct some simulation experiments. It should be no problem to publish a few top journals by then."

Hearing what Xiao Yi said, Li Jiangan and the others' eyes lit up slightly, and then they all nodded.

This is true.

Even if they cannot build a new tokamak device, if they can have HTSC-1 to help them conduct some simulation experiments, it will be very easy to publish a few top journals at that time.

For example, if you list the significance of HTSC-1's excellent performance in achieving nuclear fusion, you can easily publish a few articles in journals of the same level as Nature and Science. These papers, which seem to be very eye-catching, are the favorite papers of Nature and Science.

And its significance is not just in nuclear fusion. Although their Plasma Institute mainly studies controlled nuclear fusion, they also study other plasma-related issues.

Among these other problems, research related to superconductors is more or less involved.

Using HTSC-1, a superconductor with superior performance, can also help them produce results that can be published in top journals.

The reason why other research institutes and laboratories want to compete for a share of HTSC-1 is basically because of this reason.

Anyway, being able to produce results and publish papers is the best thing for scientific researchers.

Then, Xiao Yi continued, "In addition to this matter, if you have any theoretical topics that need help, I can also try to study them. If I can solve them, it should be of great help to your research."

Hearing his words, Li Jiangan and the others looked at each other for a moment.

Xiao Yi's words were full of confidence.

Xiao Yi felt that he could figure out the problem that they hadn’t solved?

At this time, Zhao Zhanyou said: "I just have a question. Theoretically speaking, can the Greenwald limit be improved no further?"

"Greenwald Limit?"

Xiao Yi thought for a moment and said, "Are you referring to a physical parameter in the tokamak device?"

"Yes." Zhao Zhanyou said: "The Greenwald limit defines the maximum average density of plasma in a tokamak. If this upper limit is exceeded in a tokamak, the plasma will become unstable, thus affecting the maintenance and efficiency of the nuclear fusion reaction."

"Originally, the Greenwald limit was believed to be the result of Greenwald's analysis in 1988, but in 2022, the Greenwald limit was raised by nearly two times."

"That means that in a tokamak we can add more fuel, run at a higher power, and produce higher energy with the same level of safety."

"So can this limit continue to be raised?"

Hearing this question, Xiao Yi became interested.

Well, the classic problem of finding the limit.

Although when it comes to controlled nuclear fusion, this problem is quite difficult.

"I understand. I will study this issue when I return. If I get any results, I will let you know."

"Okay." Zhao Zhanyou nodded.

...Next, Xiao Yi walked around their place again. As for witnessing the ignition of EAST, he could only wait for another opportunity to come again.

We can't just build an artificial sun just because he comes to visit.

What's more, once this thing is turned on, the subsequent maintenance will be a real hassle.

In addition, Xiao Yi also visited their cafeteria and observed the specifications of their cafeteria.

Their Science Island Laboratory is in urgent need of a cafeteria. Otherwise, they have to run outside if they want to eat, which is very inconvenient.

Many people in the laboratory have reported this problem to him.

Xiao Yi's visit ended after lunch.

……

Back to the Science Island Laboratory.

Xiao Yi turned on his computer in his office and first checked the state density of the electron-interface reaction migration model and the calculation progress of the exact solution of the Schrödinger equation.

Ok……

I estimate that it will be calculated tonight.

Then he stopped looking at it and thought about the question Zhao Zhanyou had asked him.

"Grindelwald Limit? Why not Grindelwald?"

While complaining in his heart, he began to collect relevant information.

Soon, he found the 2022 paper.

"The density limit scaling of tokamaks based on edge turbulent transport and its impact on ITER" ... uses the first principles method, so the results used are also calculated."

"Hmm... so in the end it's just a complicated optimization problem?"

Xiao Yi pondered for a moment.

"Plasma turbulence... A simplified drift-simplified Braginskii fluid model is used in the paper to describe the physical processes in the plasma at the edge of the tokamak."

“Although the degree of simplification is relatively high, the results are still relatively accurate.”

"But what if we can use better fluid models to make inferences?"

Xiao Yi shook his head slightly. "I really didn't expect that this result would not be born until 2022. I guess it's because there were too few people studying nuclear fusion before."

Just like ITER, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the proposal was first made in 1985, but the final design was not completed until 2001, and construction did not officially begin until 2007.

Afterwards, he stopped thinking about it and started collecting various information. Since he wanted to solve the problem, he had to start by understanding the problem.

Just like that, time passed quietly.

……

Three days later, with the official completion of the relevant calculations of the electron-interface reaction migration model, Xiao Yi also integrated these calculation results into the model. So far, the model used to describe the electron migration behavior in the interface reaction process has finally been completely perfected.

"nailed it."

Looking at the model on the computer, Xiao Yi's lips curled up.

"The next thing to do is to verify its accuracy."

He immediately called four people from the research group and held an impromptu group meeting.

"In the past few days, our goal is to verify this model."

Standing at the front of the small conference room, Xiao Yi opened the PPT and presented the electron-interface reaction migration model.

Liu Xiaodong and the other three were all confused.

Model?

What model?
What Professor Xiao has been busy with these days is this model?
"I named it the electron-interface reaction migration model, or EIRM for short."

"It mainly uses the reaction-diffusion equation, and by optimizing it, it integrates the Schrödinger equation and interface state density in order to describe the electron migration behavior during the interface reaction process."

"If it can be accurately described, it can help us optimize lithium phosphorus sulfur chlorine to a certain extent."

After hearing Xiao Yi's introduction, the four people's eyes widened.

what? !

Describe the behavior of electron migration? Specifically for processes occurring at interfaces?

God, their Professor Xiao, this is really something that would scare people to death if he didn’t take action.

"Okay, next I will send you this model, you can learn about it and ask me if you have any questions, and then we will start to conduct experimental verification."

Then, Xiao Yi sent the model to them.

The four of them immediately looked at it with great curiosity.

And the more they watched, the more excited they became.

"Wonderful!"

"It's actually possible to find the solution to the Schrödinger equation for electrons at the interface. This electron wave function... is too sophisticated!"

"The density of states at the interface is a key factor affecting electron migration, and this model properly incorporates the discretization effect of electron energy levels at the interface."

"besides……"

The four people kept exclaiming in amazement.

Moreover, what they could see was not profound enough. The model involved much deeper issues than they imagined.

But regardless, they came to a conclusion.

That is – it can be done!
"Professor, we're done."

"No problem?"

"Nothing."

Xiao Yi nodded: "Okay, that's it, let's go to the laboratory now and conduct a verification experiment."

"Yes!"

So they went to various laboratories and began verification.

Advanced technologies such as scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic force microscopy are used to directly observe the migration path of electrons on the interface and compare it with the theoretical model. In addition to the initial observation, there are also various verification methods such as electron migration rate and state density.

Probably a few days later.

With all labs completed.

Looking at the results given in the final report, Liu Xiaodong and others were stunned.

"The maximum error between the model and the experiment is less than 15%, and the average error is only 5%..."

"O God!"

They felt as if they had seen the god of computing materials.

(End of this chapter)