Experimetal Plasma Confinement in Thermonuclear Fusion Reactors

Achieving controlled thermonuclear fusion represents one of the most significant engineering and physics challenges of the 21 st century. Replicating stellar power mechanisms on Earth requires confining deuterium-tritium plasma at temperatures exceeding 100 million °C while satisfying the Lawson Criterion (Lawson, 1957; Godes & Shablov, 2023). This paper examines the primary experimental paradigms of plasma confinement—specifically Magnetic Confinement Fusion (MCF) via tokamaks and stellarators, alongside Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF). We analyze magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities, turbulent transport phenomena, and plasma-wall interaction constraints. Furthermore, we review milestones from flagship facilities including ITER, the National Ignition Facility (NIF), and Wendelstein 7-X (IPB Editors et al., 1999; Abu-Shawareb et al., 2024; Klinger et al., 2019), evaluating pathways toward steady-state net energy generation.