Light-ion beams for inertial confinement fusion

VanDevender, J. Pace

doi:10.1088/0029-5515/25/9/067

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…An intense-ion beam (IIB) is a plasma beam with far greater particle energy and instantaneous intensity, with typical output parameters, W i ≃100-1000's of keV ion energy, n i ≲ 10 17 − 10 19 m −3 ion density, τ b ≃ 0.1 − 1 µs pulse-duration, and Pb ≃ 10 9 − 10 12 W instantaneous-peak power. IIBs were originally developed in the late 70's for light-ion, inertialconfinement fusion [9,10] and later adapted for use in fieldreversed fusion plasmas [11,12] and materials processing [13,14]. Early designs used flashover discharges to produce a high-density plasma from which the ions were extracted and then accelerated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutralized, intense-ion beams for fusion

Wessel,

Egly,

Rogers

2024

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

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- A charge- and current-neutralized, intense-ion beam (IIB) will propagate undeflected in a magnetized plasma by the $\bf{E}\times\bf{B}$, or diamagnetic, drift for a distance large compared to the beam-ion gyro-radius. This propagation occurs because of collective plasma effects when the beam-energy density is sufficient to sustain the polarization-electric field, or diamagnetic-screening currents. Our principal interest is the \exb, with $\beta = \mathcal{E}_\text{beam}/ \mathcal{E}_\text{field} < 1$. IIBs are characterized by parameters in the range: 0.1-2 MeV ion energy, 1-100 MA/m$^2$ ion-current density, and 17 - 350 kW average power produced on repetitively-pulsed systems. Multi-MW average-beam power is possible with appropriate modifications to the power supply and ion-source/accelerator. IIBs can be focused geometrically, and/or magnetically, to spot sizes of the order of a few cm's and their angular divergence is typically, $\sim$15 mRadians, suitable for long-range propagation in a vacuum beam-line. IIBs lose energy and momentum in the same manner as particles injected by a neutral-beam injector (NBIs), hence could be useful for fusion applications, including: heating, current drive, fueling, profile modifications, etc., and such applications have yet to be thoroughly studied. Summarized here are the physical principles accounting for IIB propagation; ion-source designs used to produce the IIB; and pulsed-power methods for energizing the IIB accelerator. This technology base informs scalable metrics for the ion-source/accelerator (excluding the HV power supply and interconnects) used in a conceptual injector that provides the same ion energy and injected power (1 MeV, 17 MW) as NBIs used on ITER. A comparison indicates that the IIB injector would be much smaller in size, lower cost, and have much greater efficiency, while also providing for real-time modulation of the beam energy and intensity and the use of small-diameter injection ports that could minimize fuel contamination and magnetic-field leakage between the IIB injector and tokamak.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutralized, intense-ion beams for fusion

Wessel,

Egly,

Rogers

2024

Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion

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“…There is a growing theoretical literature on the macroscopic (Davidson, Tsang & Swegle 1984a;Swegle 1983;Swegle & Ott 1981a, b;Davidson & Tsang 1984, 1985Chang et al 1984;Chernin & Lau 1984;Davidson, Tsang & Uhm 1985) and kinetic (Davidson 1985a, b; equilibrium and stability properties of intense non-neutral electron flow, with applications that range from high-voltage diodes for particle-beam fusion (VanDevender et al 1981, 1985 andreferences therein;Miller 1982) to coherent radiation generation by relativistic magnetrons (Orzechowski & Bekefi 1979;Palevsky & Bekefi 1979;Bekefi 1982;Davidson, McMullin & Tsang 19846;. In the present analysis, we make use of the extraordinary-mode eigenvalue equation derived in Davidson et al (1984) for general equilibrium profiles to investigate the local stability properties (Krall 1968) of relativistic, non-neutral electron flow in the planar diode configuration illustrated in figure 1.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local analysis of extraordinary-mode stability properties for relativistic non-neutral electron flow in a planar diode

Davidson

Uhm

1987

J. Plasma Phys.

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The extraordinary-mode eigenvalue equation is used to investigate the local stability properties of relativistic, non-neutral electron flow in a planar diode. The local stability analysis assumes gentle equilibrium gradients and short perturbation wavelengths. The lowest-order local dispersion relation is derived assuming that localized solutions for the eigenfunction exist, and stability properties are investigated numerically over a wide range of System parameters for perturbations with frequency small in comparison with the electron cyclotron frequency. It is found that the local dispersion relation supports three solutions in this frequency regime. One of the solutions corresponds to a stable diocotron mode driven by the local density gradient. The other two branches are found to exhibit instability over a wide range of electron density. These modes are electromagnetic in nature and require relativistic electron flow with velocity shear in order for instability to exist. Moreover, the growth rate of the unstable electromagnetic mode can be substantial (a few per cent of the electron cyclotron frequency).

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Progress in particle-beam-driven inertial fusion research: Activities in Japan

Horioka

2017

Matter and Radiation at Extremes

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Research activities in Japan relevant to particle beam inertial fusion are briefly reviewed. These activities can be ascended to the 1980s. During the past three decades, significant progress in particle beam fusion, pulsed power systems, accelerator schemes for intense beams, target physics, and high-energy-density physics research has been made by a number of research groups at universities and accelerator facilities in Japan. High-flux ions have been extracted from laser ablation plasmas. Controllability of the ion velocity distribution in the plasma by an axial magnetic and/or electric field has realized a stable high-flux low-emittance beam injector. Beam dynamics have been studied both theoretically and experimentally. The efforts have been concentrated on the beam behavior during the final compression stage of intense beam accelerators. A novel accelerator scheme based on a repetitive induction modulator has been proposed as a cost-effective particle-beam driver scheme. Beam-plasma interaction and pulse-powered plasma experiments have been investigated as relevant studies of particle beam inertial fusion. An irradiation method to mitigate the instability in imploding target has been proposed using oscillating heavy-ion beams. The new irradiation method has reopened the exploration of direct drive scheme of particle beam fusion.

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Light-ion beams for inertial confinement fusion

Cited by 3 publications

References 15 publications

Neutralized, intense-ion beams for fusion

Neutralized, intense-ion beams for fusion

Local analysis of extraordinary-mode stability properties for relativistic non-neutral electron flow in a planar diode

Progress in particle-beam-driven inertial fusion research: Activities in Japan

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