Such energy could serve as a safe and clean source of power for generating electricity. 'Now medical practitioners can effectively treat diabetic patients.'įusion, which scientists around the world are seeking to produce on Earth, combines light elements in the form of plasma-the hot, charged state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei that makes up 99 percent of the visible universe-to release massive amounts of energy. 'When developing treatments for diabetes, scientists found that there were three major types,' he said. Qin cites discovery of the major types of diabetes as an example of the role classification plays in scientific progress.

Any new classification scheme will lead to improvement in our theoretical understanding and subsequent advances in technology,' he said. 'The first and foremost step in any scientific endeavor is to classify the objects under investigation.

In fact, 'the discovery of the 10 phases in plasma marks a primary development in plasma physics,' Qin said. 'The paper is the basic theory and the technology will follow the theoretical understanding.' However, 'Our paper doesn't consider any practical applications,' said physicist Hong Qin, co-author of the paper and Fu's advisor. Possible applications include using the excitations to create current in magnetic fusion plasmas or facilitating plasma rotation in fusion experiments. 'The next step is to explore what these excitations could do and how they might be utilized.' 'These findings could lead to possible applications of these exotic excitations in space and laboratory plasmas,' said Yichen Fu, a graduate student at PPPL and lead author of a paper in Nature Communications that outlines the research. The spatial boundaries, or transitions, between different phases will support localized wave excitations, the researchers found.

Alternate phase 10 phases