Zhisong Qu, Mathew Hole and Michael Fitzgerald of the Plasma Theory and Modelling group have solved a puzzle of why their million-degree heating beams sometimes fail, and instead destabilise the fusion experiments before energy is generated.

The solution used a new theory based on fluid flow and will help scientists in the quest to create gases with temperatures over a hundred million degrees and harness them to create clean, endless, carbon-free energy with nuclear fusion. 

"This new way of looking at burning plasma physics allowed us to understand this previously impenetrable problem," said Mr Qu, who was the lead author of the paper published in Physical Review Letters.

This breakthrough is another step towards large scale economical fusion energy production.

Read more on ANU News.