Open-Ended Magnetic Confinement Systems for Fusion

Mirror-Based Fusion: Some Possible New Directions

“…We review these here as a basis for later discussions. Recapitulating from earlier reports [6], these attributes are:…”

“…The second decision to be made in looking for new magnetic confinement systems is the topology of the magnetic field: "open" or "closed." It has long been the author's contention that the open topology is more conducive to innovation and more flexible in operating regimes and technology than closed systems [1]. W e therefore chose open systems for the examples, specifically, long linear systems located in underground tunnels, following up on earlier calculations [2].…”

“…The potential differences established can be either localized, as in tandem-mirror systems, and/or can be established in the radial direction, relative to the containment chamber, as an aid to the suppression of certain instability modes [16]. 6. As compared to closed, i.e., toroidal systems, where the plasma state is usually a collision-dominated one, open-ended systems can much more readily operate near to "collisionless" state, i.e., one where randomization of the ion distribution functions is not complete so that the ions (or electrons) can exist far from a maxwellian state.…”