Experiment on Ion-Beam-Collider for D-^3He Fusion

这项研究是为了探索一种新的D-^3He聚变方法。为了产生聚变反应，产生了逆流高能离子，并将其俘获在由径向电场和轴向磁场形成的径向有效势垒中。2D-Fokker-Plank程序表明，在能量限制时间内，在可能可达的范围内可获得净聚变输出。通过实验验证了该方法的基本特点：(1)在轴向磁场中可以形成并保持一个致密的等离子体核作为离子源。堆芯等离子体是在中性气体优先泵浦下激发螺旋波产生的。(2)堆芯偏置于较高的正离子引出电势。在这里，磁绝缘很好地工作，在3公斤的磁场下维持高达3千伏的电位。形成的径向电场在堆芯表面变得很强。(3)径向电场很容易从堆芯等离子体中引出离子，观察到它们的轨道与理论相符。因此，快离子之间的反碰撞是真实存在的。(4)还没有观察到致命的不稳定性，现阶段的磁场不足以引起聚变。然而，如果田地增加到5公斤或更高，这将是可能的。

This research was performed to examine a new method for D-^3He fusion. To generate the fusion reaction, counterstreaming energetic ions are produced and trapped in the radial effective potential well whichis formed by a radial electric field and an axial magnetic field. A 2D-Fokker-Plank code shows that a net fusion output is obtainable at an energy confinement time in a probably accessible range. Fundamental features of this method have been examined through experiments as follows.(1) A dense plasma core as the ion source can be formed and maintained in a axial magnetic field. The core plasma is produced by exciting hilicon waves of a helical mode under preferential pumping of neutral gas.(2) The core is biased at a high positive potential for ion beam extraction. Here, magnetic insulation well works to sustain the potential up to 3 kV at the magnetic field of 3 kG. The formed radial electric field becomes very strong at the core surface.(3) Ions are easily extracted from the core plasma by the radial electric field and observed their orbits are in good agreement with the theoretical ones. Thus, counter-collisions among fast ions are really present.(4) Fatal instabilities have not been observed yet.The magnetic field available in the present stage is not enough to cause fusion. However, it will be possible if the field is increased to 5 kG or higher.