SOME PHYSICS CONSIDERATIONS OF MAGNETIC INERTIAL-ELECTROSTATIC CONFINEMENT - A NEW CONCEPT FOR SPHERICAL CONVERGING-FLOW FUSION

A new concept for inertial-electrostatic spherical colliding beam fusion (POLYWELL(TM)) is based on the use of magnetohydrodynamically stable quasi-spherical polyhedral magnetic fields to contain energetic electrons that are injected to form a negative potential well that is capable of ion confinement. A simple phenomenological model for this system shows that 1. It is grossly stable against internal and global perturbations by virtue of the effects of both the external magnetic fields (typically 1 to 5 kG) and the large central azimuthally isotropic power flow due to conservation of transverse momentum in the recirculating ion flow. 2. Electron current recirculation ratios must be of the order of 10(5) for net fusion power operation, which is found to be possible within limits set by energy-exchange self-collisions. 3. Losses due to bremsstrahlung and synchrotron radiation can be kept small relative to fusion power generation, and ion energy Maxwellianization by two-body collisional upscattering can be kept to acceptable levels by operation at sufficiently large well depth. 4. System gains of 10 to 100 seem possible from several fusion fuels. 5. No zero-order impediments have yet been found to this highly speculative concept; feasibility must be determined by study of more complex and detailed phenomena.