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Title:
High-Energy Electron Confinement in a Magnetic Cusp Configuration
Authors:
Park, Jaeyoung; Krall, Nicholas A.; Sieck, Paul E.; Offermann, Dustin T.; Skillicorn, Michael; Sanchez, Andrew; Davis, Kevin; Alderson, Eric; Lapenta, Giovanni
Affiliation:
AA(Energy Matter Conversion Corporation (EMC2), 9155 Brown Deer Road, San Diego, California 92121, USA), AB(1070 America Way, Del Mar, California 92104, USA), AC(Energy Matter Conversion Corporation (EMC2), 9155 Brown Deer Road, San Diego, California 92121, USA), AD(Energy Matter Conversion Corporation (EMC2), 9155 Brown Deer Road, San Diego, California 92121, USA), AE(Energy Matter Conversion Corporation (EMC2), 9155 Brown Deer Road, San Diego, California 92121, USA), AF(Energy Matter Conversion Corporation (EMC2), 9155 Brown Deer Road, San Diego, California 92121, USA), AG(Energy Matter Conversion Corporation (EMC2), 9155 Brown Deer Road, San Diego, California 92121, USA), AH(Energy Matter Conversion Corporation (EMC2), 9155 Brown Deer Road, San Diego, California 92121, USA), AI(Center for Mathematical Plasma Astrophysics, University of Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B, 3001 Leuven, Belgium)
Publication:
Physical Review X, Volume 5, Issue 2, id.021024
Publication Date:
04/2015
Origin:
APS
PACS Keywords:
Field-reversed configurations rotamaks astrons ion rings magnetized target fusion and cusps, Electrostatic and high-frequency confinement, Theory design and computerized simulation
Abstract Copyright:
2015: authors
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevX.5.021024
Bibliographic Code:
2015PhRvX...5b1024P

Abstract

We report experimental results validating the concept that plasma confinement is enhanced in a magnetic cusp configuration when β (plasma pressure/magnetic field pressure) is of order unity. This enhancement is required for a fusion power reactor based on cusp confinement to be feasible. The magnetic cusp configuration possesses a critical advantage: the plasma is stable to large scale perturbations. However, early work indicated that plasma loss rates in a reactor based on a cusp configuration were too large for net power production. Grad and others theorized that at high β a sharp boundary would form between the plasma and the magnetic field, leading to substantially smaller loss rates. While not able to confirm the details of Grad's work, the current experiment does validate, for the first time, the conjecture that confinement is substantially improved at high β . This represents critical progress toward an understanding of the plasma dynamics in a high-β cusp system. We hope that these results will stimulate a renewed interest in the cusp configuration as a fusion confinement candidate. In addition, the enhanced high-energy electron confinement resolves a key impediment to progress of the Polywell fusion concept, which combines a high-β cusp configuration with electrostatic fusion for a compact, power-producing nuclear fusion reactor.
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