The Los Alamos Penning Fusion eXperiment -- Ions
The Penning Fusion eXperiment-Ions (PFX-I), part of the Innovative Concepts Initiative of the Office of Fusion Energy (OFE) is a unique magnetic confinement concept based upon the traditional nonneutral-plasma Penning trap. It is an electron/ion trap comprised of a small magnetic flux-shaper, an electron emitter, and gas supply. The trap itself has an ID of less than 40mm, with access to the center restricted through ports less than 15mm in diameter. The small trap size and relatively low electron density discounts several diagnostics. The initial diagnostic the authors are developing is based upon the Stark broadening of the Hydrogen alpha ({lambda}=6,563{angstrom}) and beta ({lambda}=4,861{angstrom}) lines when neutral H{sub 2} gas is added to the electron cloud confined in the trap. For the experimental conditions (n{sub c} approximately 10{sup 10}cm{sup {minus}3}), calculations indicate that approximately 10{sup 13} photons/sec{sm_bullet}cm{sup 3} should be emitted from the plasma and the H{sub {alpha}} line should be broadened by approximately 1{angstrom}. In the previous experiment, PFX demonstrated super-Brillouin spherical electron focus. More recently they have trapped over 3 billion electrons in a simplified penning trap. A possible limitation is that the Q of the device may be limited by ion-ion collisions. Engineering challenges include the limited access for diagnostics and high-voltage breakdown. The advantages of this approach include a compact, cheap, simple, and incremental R and D path and range of near- and medium-term applications. Furthermore, the arbitrarily small fusion power reactor embodiment and advanced fuel operation possibilities are excellent.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 20067593
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1999 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science, Monterey, CA (US), 06/20/1999--06/24/1999; Other Information: PBD: 1999; Related Information: In: The 26th IEEE international conference on plasma science, 342 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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