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The stability of a plasma is an important consideration in the study of plasma physics. When a system containing a plasma is at equilibrium, it is possible for certain parts of the plasma to be disturbed by small perturbative forces acting on it. The stability of the system determines if the perturbations will grow, oscillate, or be damped out.
Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a fusion energy process that initiates nuclear fusion reactions by compressing and heating targets filled with fuel. The targets are small pellets, typically containing deuterium (2H) and tritium (3H).
Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy. Devices designed to harness this energy are known as fusion reactors. Research into fusion reactors began in the 1940s, but as of 2023, no device has reached net power.
Inertial electrostatic confinement, or IEC, is a class of fusion power devices that use electric fields to confine the plasma rather than the more common approach using magnetic fields found in magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) designs. Most IEC devices directly accelerate their fuel to fusion conditions, thereby avoiding energy losses seen during the longer heating stages of MCF devices. In theory, this makes them more suitable for using alternative aneutronic fusion fuels, which offer a number of major practical benefits and makes IEC devices one of the more widely studied approaches to fusion.
In fusion power research, the Z-pinch is a type of plasma confinement system that uses an electric current in the plasma to generate a magnetic field that compresses it. These systems were originally referred to simply as pinch or Bennett pinch, but the introduction of the θ-pinch concept led to the need for clearer, more precise terminology.
Magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) is an approach to generate thermonuclear fusion power that uses magnetic fields to confine fusion fuel in the form of a plasma. Magnetic confinement is one of two major branches of controlled fusion research, along with inertial confinement fusion.
A field-reversed configuration (FRC) is a type of plasma device studied as a means of producing nuclear fusion. It confines a plasma on closed magnetic field lines without a central penetration. In an FRC, the plasma has the form of a self-stable torus, similar to a smoke ring.
A spheromak is an arrangement of plasma formed into a toroidal shape similar to a smoke ring. The spheromak contains large internal electric currents and their associated magnetic fields arranged so the magnetohydrodynamic forces within the spheromak are nearly balanced, resulting in long-lived (microsecond) confinement times without external fields. Spheromaks belong to a type of plasma configuration referred to as the compact toroids. A spheromak can be made and sustained using magnetic flux injection, leading to a dynomak.
A pinch is the compression of an electrically conducting filament by magnetic forces, or a device that does such. The conductor is usually a plasma, but could also be a solid or liquid metal. Pinches were the first type of device used for experiments in controlled nuclear fusion power.
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General Fusion is a Canadian company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, which is developing a fusion power device based on magnetized target fusion (MTF). The company was founded in 2002 by Dr. Michel Laberge. The company has more than 150 employees in three countries, with additional centers co-located with fusion research laboratories near London, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, US.
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A plasma railgun is a linear accelerator which, like a projectile railgun, uses two long parallel electrodes to accelerate a "sliding short" armature. However, in a plasma railgun, the armature and ejected projectile consists of plasma, or hot, ionized, gas-like particles, instead of a solid slug of material. Scientific plasma railguns are typically operated in vacuum and not at air pressure. They are of value because they produce muzzle velocities of up to several hundreds of kilometers per second. Because of this, these devices have applications in magnetic confinement fusion (MCF), magneto-inertial fusion (MIF), high energy density physics research (HEDP), laboratory astrophysics, and as a plasma propulsion engine for spacecraft.
The Star Thrust Experiment (STX) was a plasma physics experiment at the University of Washington's Redmond Plasma Physics Laboratory which ran from 1999 to 2001. The experiment studied magnetic plasma confinement to support controlled nuclear fusion experiments. Specifically, STX pioneered the possibility of forming a Field-reversed configuration (FRC) by using a Rotating Magnetic Field (RMF).
The Compact Toroidal Hybrid (CTH) is an experimental device at Auburn University that uses magnetic fields to confine high-temperature plasmas. CTH is a torsatron type of stellarator with an external, continuously wound helical coil that generates the bulk of the magnetic field for containing a plasma.
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Ryutov is a Russian theoretical plasma physicist.
The history of nuclear fusion began early in the 20th century as an inquiry into how stars powered themselves and expanded to incorporate a broad inquiry into the nature of matter and energy, as potential applications expanded to include warfare, energy production and rocket propulsion.
References
- ↑ Why Magnetized Target Fusion Offers a Low-Cost Development Path For Fusion Energy (PDF)
- ↑ Taccetti, J. M.; et al. (2003), "FRX-L: A Field-Reversed Configuration Plasma Injector For Magnetized Target Fusion" (PDF), Review of Scientific Instruments, 74 (10): 4314, Bibcode:2003RScI...74.4314T, doi:10.1063/1.1606534
- ↑ Plasma-Jet Driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion, archived from the original on 2012-08-17, retrieved 2012-07-24
- ↑ Thio, Y. C. F. (2008), "Status of the US program in magneto-inertial fusion" (PDF), Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 112 (4): 042084, Bibcode:2008JPhCS.112d2084T, doi:10.1088/1742-6596/112/4/042084, S2CID 250693659
- ↑ Wessel, F. J.; Felber, F. S.; Wild, N. C.; Rahman, H. U.; Fisher, A.; Ruden, E. (1986-04-28). "Generation of high magnetic fields using a gas‐puff Z pinch". Applied Physics Letters. 48 (17): 1119–1121. Bibcode:1986ApPhL..48.1119W. doi:10.1063/1.96616. ISSN 0003-6951.
- ↑ Rahman, H. U.; Wessel, F. J.; Rostoker, N. (1995). "Staged Z pinch". Physical Review Letters. 74: 714. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.714.
- ↑ Kupari, Mike (2015). Her Brother's Keeper. Riverdale, New York: Baen Books. p. 40. ISBN 978-1-4767-8090-0. OCLC 920469663.
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