Half a month later.
Inside the Nuclear Physics Laboratory at Sandao Kou University.
Lü Yongchang sat quietly in an office assigned exclusively to him.
His brow furrowed slightly as the fountain pen in his hand raced across the A4 paper before him, working through calculations.
Half a month had passed, and the room-temperature superconducting wires made from carbon nanotubes were ready.
The power of the state apparatus was truly immense!
The moment Minister Hong learned of the breakthrough in room-temperature superconducting material technology, he personally issued the order to begin production.
Although Lü Yongchang had a complete carbon nanotube production process, manufacturing limitations at the time meant that... in all of Xia Country, only the Xiasheng Group, which specialized in manufacturing sophisticated, high-precision equipment, could mass-produce superconducting wires that met the standards.
As for those foreign companies...
Hong Qiming was no fool. If he actually gave them the orders, several Western Great Powers would probably have "mastered" room-temperature superconductivity technology within days!
Spurred by massive funding and administrative orders, the Xiasheng Group continually expanded its carbon nanotube wire production capacity!
In just half a month, room-temperature superconducting wires worth over a hundred million arrived at the Nuclear Physics Laboratory at Sandao Kou University.
An older-model stellarator had already been installed inside the Nuclear Physics Laboratory.
However, the workers had removed all the helical wires from the stellarator's exterior.
As for the stellarator's inner chamber, it had been replaced with a newly manufactured one several days earlier.
The new chamber was, of course, made from the new material Lü Yongchang had worked out on the blackboard!
Material testing showed that a reactor chamber made from this new material could withstand the temperatures of over a hundred million degrees generated during nuclear fusion without any issues!
In addition, while testing the material, Fang Xu had been astonished to discover that it could also resist radiation damage from nuclear fusion perfectly.
Along with his delight, Fang Xu had found a sense of admiration for Lü Yongchang welling up inside him.
Such an extraordinary material had actually been worked out on paper by a sophomore undergraduate!
Fang Xu could not help feeling a little ashamed.
What had he even done with all his years?
Naturally, Lü Yongchang knew nothing of Fang Xu's thoughts. He was sitting in his office, carefully examining the stellarator's dimensions and specifications.
According to Fang Xu, this stellarator had originally been used by a research institute in D Country.
As for why they had stopped using it... that naturally came back to the original problem.
Stellarators were extraordinarily difficult to manufacture!
Unlike the regular helical shape of a tokamak, a stellarator looked like a tangled ball of yarn!
The position of every strand of wire required rigorous calculations to ensure that it could generate a magnetic field at a specific angle!
That was precisely what Lü Yongchang was working on.
Using the stellarator's dimensions and specifications, he needed to calculate the exact position of every superconducting wire, ensuring that a closed, twisted, ring-shaped magnetic cage could form inside its chamber to confine the extremely hot plasma.
"Phew..."
Lü Yongchang gently set down his fountain pen and let out a long breath.
After several days of calculations, he had finally achieved promising results.
According to his calculations, these superconducting coils could generate a powerful magnetic field of up to 100 T.
This would be the strongest artificial magnetic field on Earth!
This powerful 100 T magnetic field could perfectly confine fusion plasma at over a hundred million degrees in the center of the reactor chamber!
He stood up, slowly walked to the office door, and gently turned the handle.
The sound of the office door opening caught Fang Xu's attention.
"Hm? Have you finished the calculations?"
Seeing the relaxed expression on Lü Yongchang's face, Fang Xu immediately asked, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
How many days had it been?
Even counting generously, it had only been a little over three days, right?
Could Lü Yongchang really finish such complicated calculations in three days?
Deep down, Fang Xu did not believe it.
Seemingly noticing the doubt in Fang Xu's eyes, Lü Yongchang chuckled. "Of course I have!"
As he spoke, he handed Fang Xu the stack of A4 papers he was holding. "Why don't you... check them?"
Looking astonished, Fang Xu took the A4 papers Lü Yongchang handed him.
At the sight of the densely packed formulas, Fang Xu swallowed.
Although he hated to admit it, he seemed to have some trouble understanding the calculation methods on the pages.
"Ahem... I trust your results!"
With a solemn expression, Fang Xu returned the stack of A4 papers to Lü Yongchang. "How about... we have the Tianhe-1 verify your results?"
Lü Yongchang paused for a moment, then nodded gently, agreeing to Fang Xu's suggestion.
Since this concerned controlled nuclear fusion, the Sandao Kou Nuclear Physics Laboratory received priority access to all research resources.
No sooner had the application been submitted than computing time on the Tianhe-1 was allocated.
Fang Xu carefully entered every result Lü Yongchang had calculated into the computer, then had the Tianhe-1 run the calculations.
At that moment, the supercomputer's usefulness became abundantly clear.
In just half an hour, the results appeared before Fang Xu and Lü Yongchang.
It worked!
With the superconducting wire layout finalized, the stellarator modification project had reached its final stage.
Coil supports set at specific angles were installed one by one around the stellarator.
These supports would hold the coils in place.
After all, even the slightest shift in the position of a stellarator's external superconducting coils could spell disaster.
If the ring-shaped magnetic cage inside was disrupted, plasma at over a hundred million degrees would come into direct contact with the inner chamber's surface!
No one would want to see those consequences!
Therefore, while completing the final modifications to the stellarator, both Lü Yongchang and Fang Xu remained intensely focused, afraid of letting even the tiniest mistake slip through.
Three days later.
The modifications to the old stellarator were fully completed.
"Yongchang, when should we begin the first ignition test?"
Fang Xu's voice came from beside him.
Without realizing it, Fang Xu had already begun treating Lü Yongchang as his superior. Before every research decision, he would first ask for Lü Yongchang's opinion.
"We can start right now!"
A sharp gleam flashed in Lü Yongchang's eyes. Looking up from the A4 sheets of calculations on his desk, he said firmly, "Academician Fang, report it to the higher-ups."
"We'll begin the first ignition test this afternoon!"
As Fang Xu submitted the request for the first ignition test to Hong Qiming, changes began taking place on the Sandao Kou University campus.
Dozens of special forces soldiers entered Sandao Kou University in civilian clothes, and all the main roads leading to the Nuclear Physics Laboratory were sealed off.
Snipers had even set up rifles and observation equipment in advance on several tall buildings near the Nuclear Physics Laboratory.
It was no exaggeration to say that not even a bird could fly safely past the Nuclear Physics Laboratory now!
All of this was to ensure that no unknown outside factors interfered with the controlled nuclear fusion experiment!
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