Centrifugal-electrostatic confinement fusion

Abstract

A model for plasma confinement is developed and applied for describing an electrically confined thermonuclear plasma. The plasma confinement model includes both an analytical approach that excludes space charge effects and a classical trajectory Monte Carlo simulation that accounts for space charge. The plasma consists of reactant ions that form a non-neutral plasma without electrons. The plasma drifts around a negatively charged electrode. Conditions are predicted for confining a deuterium–tritium plasma using a 460 kV applied electric potential difference. The ion plasma would have a 20 keV temperature, a 1020 m−3 peak density, and a 110 keV average kinetic energy per ion (including drift and thermal portions at a certain point in the plasma). The fusion energy production rate is predicted to be 10 times larger than the energy loss rate, including contributions associated with both plasma loss to electrodes and secondary electron emission. However, an approach for enhancing the fusion power density may have to be employed to realize a practical use for centrifugal-electrostatic confinement fusion.