After more than a decade of research in the United States, nuclear physicist Liu Chang - who made important contributions to the journey to conquer thermonuclear energy - has left Princeton University to take a position at Peking University, China.

Last month, Liu officially joined the Institute of Heavy Ion Physics, Department of Physics (Peking University) as an associate professor, according to an announcement on the institute's social media account.

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Nuclear physicist Liu Chang has left Princeton University to take a position at Peking University in China. Photo: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)

Associate Professor Liu's main research area focuses on plasma physics and fusion, particularly addressing problems related to “electron runaway” - a form of energy leakage - and other high-energy particles in magnetic field control devices used for fusion reactions.

Nuclear fusion is a method of generating energy by maintaining a plasma in a stable state, providing a highly efficient energy source, using little fuel, and creating no long-term radioactive waste.

Magnetic plasma confinement is now considered the key method for realizing fusion energy. The two most common reactors using this technology are the tokamak and the stellarator.

Associate Professor Liu's research has been published in leading scientific journals in the field, such as Physical Review Letters and Nuclear Fusion.

According to SCMP , in 2023, the research team he led announced a promising method to minimize the harmful effects of “electron runaway” caused by turbulence in tokamak devices by exploiting a special type of plasma wave. This research was published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

The United States was one of the first countries in the world to conduct fusion research since the early 1950s. China explored fusion energy later that decade and has accelerated its exploration of it recently. Since 2015, China has filed more fusion-related patents than any other country, according to industry data compiled by Nikkei.

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