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Overview of the SPARC tokamak. Journal of Plasma Physics, 86(5). [http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022377820001257](http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022377820001257)  \nN. B. When citing this work, cite the original published paper.  \nresearch.chalmers.se offers the possibility of retrieving research publications produced at Chalmers University of Technology. It covers all kind of research output: articles, dissertations, conference papers, reports etc. since 2004. research.chalmers.se is administrated and maintained by Chalmers Library  \n(article starts on next page)  \nJ. Plasma Phys. (2020), vol. 86, 865860502 © The Author(s), 2020 . 1  \nPublished by Cambridge University Press  \nThis is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons  \nAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence ([http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)), which  \npermits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is  \nunaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for  \ncommercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.  \ndoi:10.1017/S0022377820001257  \nOverview of the SPARC tokamak  \nA. J. Creely 1 ,†, M. J. Greenwald 2 , S. B. Ballinger2 , D. Brunner 1 , J. Canik3 , J. Doody2 , T. Fülöp 4 , D. T. Garnier2 , R. Granetz2 , T. K. Gray3 , C. Holland5 , N. T. Howard2 , J. W. Hughes 2 , J. H. Irby2 , V. A. Izzo6 , G. J. Kramer7 ,  \nA. Q. Kuang 2 , B. LaBombard2 , Y. Lin 2 , B. Lipschultz8 , N. C. Logan7 , J. D. Lore3 , E. S. Marmar2 , K. Montes2 , R. T. Mumgaard 1 , C. Paz-Soldan 9 , C. Rea 2 , M. L. Reinke3 , P. Rodriguez-Fernandez 2 , K. Särkimäki 4 ,  \nF. Sciortino2 , S. D. Scott 1 , A. Snicker 10 , P. B. Snyder9 , B. N. Sorbom 1 , R. Sweeney 11 , R. A. Tinguely2 , E. A. Tolman2 , M. Umansky 12 , O. Vallhagen4 ,  \nJ. Varje 10 , D. G. Whyte2 , J. C. Wright2 , S. J. Wukitch2 , J. Zhu2 and the SPARC Team 1 , 2  \n1Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Cambridge, MA, USA  \n2Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA  \n3 Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA  \n4Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden  \n5University of California – San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA  \n6Fiat Lux, San Diego, CA, USA  \n7Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ, USA  \n8York Plasma Institute, University of York, Heslington, York, UK  \n9 General Atomics, San Diego, CA, USA  \n10Aalto University, Espoo, Finland  \n11 ORISE, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA  \n12Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA  \n(Received 18 May 2020; revised 9 September 2020; accepted 10 September 2020)  \nThe SPARC tokamak is a critical next step towards commercial fusion energy. SPARC is designed as a high-field (B0 = 12.2 T), compact (R0 = 1.85 m, a = 0.57 m), superconducting, D-T tokamak with the goal of producing fusion gain Q > 2 from a magnetically confined fusion plasma for the first time. Currently under design, SPARC will continue the high-field path of the Alcator series of tokamaks, utilizing new magnets based on rare earth barium copper oxide high-temperature superconductors to achieve high performance in a compact device. The goal of Q > 2 is achievable with conservative physics assumptions (H98 ,y2 = 0.7) and, with the nominal assumption of H98 ,y2 = 1, SPARC is projected to attain Q ≈ 11 and Pfusion ≈ 140 MW. SPARC will therefore constitute a unique platform for burning plasma physics research with high density (􀀃ne 􀀄 ≈ 3 × 1020 m−3), high temperature (􀀃Te 􀀄 ≈ 7 keV) and high power density  \n†Email address for correspondence: [alex@cfs.energy](alex@cfs.energy","cbCaitRCRNeg0isz","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitRCRNeg0isz","pdf",2175545,26,"English","# Overview\n## SPARC tokamak design goals\n## Physics projections and performance parameters\n## Context for fusion energy and Q>1 requirement","[{\"question\":\"What is SPARC designed to achieve in fusion research?\",\"answer\":\"SPARC is designed to be a superconducting D-T tokamak aiming to produce fusion gain Q \\u003e 2 for the first time.\"},{\"question\":\"What key performance characteristics does the article report for SPARC?\",\"answer\":\"The article states SPARC is high-field and compact and provides projected values such as Q ≈ 11 and Pfusion ≈ 140 MW under nominal assumptions.\"},{\"question\":\"Why is SPARC considered important for burning-plasma physics?\",\"answer\":\"The document positions SPARC as a unique platform to study burning plasma physics with high density, high temperature, and high power density relevant to fusion power plants.\"}]","Overview of the SPARC tokamak - Fusion plasma and design goals | PDF",66]