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™) 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
- 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.
- Electron current recirculation ratios must be of the order of 105 for net fusion power operation, which is found to be possible within limits set by energy-exchange self-collisions.
- 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.
- System gains of 10 to 100 seem possible from several fusion fuels.
- 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.