Alpha Channeling in Mirror Machines
Author: N.J. Fisch
Date of PPPL Report: October 2005
Submitted to: Physical Review Letters
Presented at: the Thirty-Second EPS Conference on Plasma Physics (EPS 2005), 27 June – 1 July 2005, Tarragona, Spain.
Because of their engineering simplicity, high-β, and steady-state operation, mirror machines and related open-trap machines such as gas dynamic traps, are an attractive concept for achieving controlled nuclear fusion. In these open-trap machines, the confinement occurs by means of magnetic mirroring, without the magnetic field lines closing upon themselves within the region of particle confinement. Unfortunately, these concepts have not achieved to date very spectacular laboratory results, and their reactor prospects are dimmed by the prospect of a low Q-factor, the ratio of fusion power produced to auxiliary power. Nonetheless, because of its engineering promise, over the years numerous improvements have been proposed to enhance the reactor prospects of mirror fusion, such as tandem designs, end-plugging, and electric potential barriers.