Effects of Electrode Shape on Performance Characteristics of a Cylindrical Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion Device

The effects of beam convergence on the fusion reaction rate in the cylindrical inertial electrostatic confinement fusion device are investigated using a two-dimensional simulation code and experiments. It is found from the simulation that the fusion reaction rate increases significantly with an increase of beam convergence; therefore, there is an increase of ion densities at the center region. In the experiments designed to confirm these results using different electrode shapes, the effects of the anode shape are clearly observed.