Magnetic electrostatic plasma confinement

Abstract

Electrostatic plasma confinement and magnetic electrostatic plasma confinement (MEPC) have been studied for four decades. The multiple potential well hypothesis, postulated to explain high neutron yields from Hinch's colliding beam experiment, has been supported by several pieces of evidence, but results were inconclusive. Magnetic shielding of the grid was developed to reduce the required beam current and to prevent grid overheating. Electrostatic plugging of magnetic cusps evolved to a similar confipuration. Due to low budgets, early MEPC experiments used spindle cusps, which are poor for plasma confinement. Later experiments used multipole cusps or a linear set of ring cusps, which have larger volnmes of field-free plasma. To keep the self-shielding voltage drop A+ S 100 kV, the electron density n, in the anode gap should be less than about 10'9m-3. The central plasma density can be an order of magnitude higher. The ATOLL toroidal quadrupole had anomalous electron energy transport, but the Jupiter-2M linear set of ring cusps achieved a transport rate about a factor of two above the classical rate. With near-classical transport, a power gain ratio Q = 1 0 is predicted for a reactor with r p = 3 m , B,=6T, and applied voltage + , =400 kV. Besides producing electricity and synthetic fuels, MEPC reactors could be used for heavy ion beams sources and neutIon generators. The main issues of concern for MEPC reactor development are electron transport, plasma purity and electrode alignment and voltage holding.= 100 kV, zP = 0.1 s and d = 0.001 m, this equation gives R > 2.5 m. E y r e 7. Cutaway view of a few grid wires with currents flowing out (+) and into (-) the plane of the drawing. The ellipses represent magnetic field lines.

Spatially Periodic Electromagnetic Force Field For Plasma Confinement and Control

“…The solid line is a linear fit given by F v = 3.4r nm . The linear dependence found for the fit agrees with what may be expected according to prior theory [30]. When written in terms of unnormalized parameters, the fit is Fig.…”

“…A comprehensive review of research related to electrostatic plugging of magnetic cusps is provided in Ref. [30]. More recent research that is directly or indirectly associated with electrostatic plugging of magnetic cusps includes antihydrogen-related research [10,[31][32][33] and fusion-related research [34].…”

“…The electrostatic-plugging research described in Refs. [30,32] employed an applied electric field for reflecting electrons (or positrons), with ion (or antiproton) confinement enhancement considered to occur as a result of a buildup of negative (or positive) space charge. For the concept illustrated in Fig.…”

Charged particle reflection by a planar artificially structured boundary with electrostatic plugging

“…In the context of fusion related applications, various magnetic cusp geometries with electrostatic plugging have been discussed in Ref. 6.…”

Discovery of an Electron Gyroradius Scale Current Layer: Its Relevance to Magnetic Fusion Energy, Earth's Magnetosphere, and Sunspots

“…A magnetic picket fence can be simulated with the periodic boundary condition in the axial direction. Most proposed fusion reactor configurations based on magnetic cusp system utilize many pairs of magnetic coils to provide sufficient reactor volume and needed confinement [30]. In the case of a magnetic picket fence utilizing many pairs of coils along the axial direction, the periodic boundary condition is a good approximation in the central region of the picket fence as shown in Fig.…”