Rotating Plasmas

Lehnert, B.

doi:10.1088/0029-5515/11/5/010

Cited by 243 publications

(178 citation statements)

References 99 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

175

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Because of the collisions, the plasma will probably behave like a rigidly rotating body, with no sheared rotation [28]. Sheared rotation is the most common way of stabilizing a rotating plasma [29,30]. On the other hand, the plasma may be stabilized by other effects like the large orbits of heavy particles or by escaping particles, or it may be possible to use newly proposed stabilization methods [31,32].…”

Section: Plasma Centrifugementioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma Mass Filters For Nuclear Waste Reprocessing

Fetterman

Fisch

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Practical disposal of nuclear waste requires high-throughput separation techniques. The most dangerous part of nuclear waste is the fission product, which contains the most active and mobile radioisotopes and produces most of the heat. We suggest that the fission products could be separated as a group from nuclear waste using plasma mass filters. Plasmabased processes are well suited to separating nuclear waste, because mass rather than chemical properties are used for separation. A single plasma stage can replace several stages of chemical separation, producing separate streams of bulk elements, fission products, and actinoids. The plasma mass filters may have lower cost and produce less auxiliary waste than chemical processing plants. Three rotating plasma configurations are considered that act as mass filters: the plasma centrifuge, the Ohkawa filter, and the asymmetric centrifugal trap.

show abstract

Section: Plasma Centrifugementioning

confidence: 99%

Plasma Mass Filters For Nuclear Waste Reprocessing

Fetterman

Fisch

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The major issues that must be overcome by axisymmetric mirrors are magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability and excessive parallel energy loss. Both of these may be addressed by inducing superthermal ExB rotation, which provides MHD stability through velocity shear and increases axial confinement by the centrifugal force [2,3].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In past experiments, the rotation has been produced by electrodes in the mirror throat, and these electrodes limited the rotation speed to the Alfven critical ionization velocity (CIV) [2]. However, rotation might best be produced by waves rather than electrodes, allowing the CIV limit to be overcome [4].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulation of Alpha Particles in Rotating Plasma Interacting with a Stationary Ripple

Fisch¹

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Of major interest is that the α-particle energy, in addition to amplifying the RF waves, can directly enhance the rotation energy which in turn provides additional plasma confinement in centrifugal fusion reactors. An ancillary benefit is the rapid removal of alpha particles, which increases the fusion reactivity.In magnetic mirror fusion devices, centrifugal forces can significantly enhance the magnetic confinement [1,2,3]. A radial electric field induces rapid E × B plasma rotation, leading to the centrifugal force that directly confines ions axially.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In magnetic mirror fusion devices, centrifugal forces can significantly enhance the magnetic confinement [1,2,3]. A radial electric field induces rapid E × B plasma rotation, leading to the centrifugal force that directly confines ions axially.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

αChanneling in a Rotating Plasma

Fetterman

Fisch

2008

Phys. Rev. Lett.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The wave-particle α-channeling effect is generalized to include rotating plasma. Specifically, radio frequency waves can resonate with α particles in a mirror machine with E × B rotation to diffuse the α particles along constrained paths in phase space. Of major interest is that the α-particle energy, in addition to amplifying the RF waves, can directly enhance the rotation energy which in turn provides additional plasma confinement in centrifugal fusion reactors. An ancillary benefit is the rapid removal of alpha particles, which increases the fusion reactivity.In magnetic mirror fusion devices, centrifugal forces can significantly enhance the magnetic confinement [1,2,3]. A radial electric field induces rapid E × B plasma rotation, leading to the centrifugal force that directly confines ions axially. Electrons are then confined axially through the ambipolar potential. The radial field thus not only enhances the plasma confinement, but also produces the necessary heating for the plasma, as injected cold neutral fuel atoms are seen as moving at the rotation velocity in the rotating frame. Lately there has been a renewed interest in this effect [4,5,6,7], strengthened by recent findings of reduced turbulence due to sheared rotation [8,9].What we show here is that in a DT (deuterium-tritium) centrifugal fusion reactor, the energy of α-particles, the byproducts of the fusion reaction, might be advantageously induced to directly produce this rotation. The predicted effect relies on exploiting the population inversion of the birth distribution of α particles. This is a generalization of the alpha channeling effect, where injected wave energy can be amplified at the expense of the α-particle energy, with the alpha particles concomitantly removed as cold particles [10]. In tokamaks, if the wave energy is damped on ions, the fusion reactivity might be doubled [11]. Similar advantageous uses of α-channeling can be expected in mirror machines [12]. With several waves, a significant amount of the α-particle energy can be advantageously channeled in both tokamaks [13] and mirrors [14]. However, in previous considerations of α-channeling, the plasma was not rotating strongly.In strongly rotating plasma, significant new effects can occur because there are two further reservoirs of particle energy, namely rotational and potential energy. For example, through a suitable choice of wave parameters, particles can now absorb wave energy yet cool in kinetic energy, with the excess energy being stored in potential energy. Alternatively, particle potential energy might be lost to wave energy with kinetic energy constant. These possibilities could not be achieved through particle manipulation in stationary systems, where the only coupling is between the kinetic energy with the wave energy. What is important for centrifugal mirror fusion is that radiofrequency waves can drive a radial α-particle current, with the dissipated power extracted from the α-particle birth energy, thereby maintaining the radial potential which produces the nece...

show abstract

Rotating Plasmas

Cited by 243 publications

References 99 publications

Plasma Mass Filters For Nuclear Waste Reprocessing

Plasma Mass Filters For Nuclear Waste Reprocessing

Simulation of Alpha Particles in Rotating Plasma Interacting with a Stationary Ripple

αChanneling in a Rotating Plasma

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About