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Defense Intelligence Reference Document Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Fusion

Defense Intelligence Agency · 72 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Defense Intelligence Agency reference document, dated 10 March 2010, covers inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion. It was produced in FY 2009 under the DIA's Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications (AAWSA) program. The report focuses on work at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and reviews IEC basics, experiments, theory and applications such as neutron sources, explosives detection and space propulsion. It concludes by proposing a breakeven experiment for p-11B fusion that uses a hydrogen plasma simulation.

  • p. 7 …Emphasis is placed on work in these areas at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, although…
  • p. 8 …of how inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion works. Gas ~ccd I in~ Spherical Vacuum . Chamber !!1…
  • p. 10 …While Hirsh worked with Farnsworth to demonstrate early experimental success with IEC experiments (Reference 1.2…
  • p. 11 …Such work was soon taken up in several other laboratories, including Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL…
  • p. 12 …electron) injected traps (as does the present author's work). This selection was largely driven by…
  • p. 15 …This work and others on the small gridded systems at that time showed several important problems…
  • p. 17 …Recent work has shown that by properly programming the distribution function of the injected electrons it…
  • p. 18 …Results indicate that although the formalism works well during the early phases of compression, when the…
  • p. 21 …Hirsch Working With Philo Farnsworth I' I'· 0 ,,, 10•u w "',. ~ 40~ CRONS D- -,C •~7…
  • p. 22 …This worked well, but the design was eventually discarded to move to RF guns with much…
  • p. 23 …This work substituted a metallic hybrid getter for the external pumping on the IEC chamber. With…
  • p. 24 …Another important example of the use of a compact IEC neutron source is the work at…
  • p. 25 …2.7) The IEC developed for this work used a magnetron ion generation technique to improve…
  • p. 26 …Still the design worked reasonably well for the initial mine detection experiments. Unfortunately, the project was…
  • p. 27 …as shown by the hybrid magnetron source work in Japan. Another point noted is the advantage…
  • p. 29 …As already noted, the basic physics of this version was originally studied in pioneering work by…
  • p. 30 …Relation to Other Prior Thrusters NASA and other laboratories have worked toward developing advanced Hall Thrusters…
  • p. 31 …Indeed, the thruster concept arose from work on a fusion based IEC (Reference 3.5). To…
  • p. 32 …Khachan's work. It too looks very promising. 25 UNCLASSIFIED/ ,u;oAt OFFIGIPk IP&'i OIIU{
  • p. 35 …at the UIUC and several other laboratories working on IECs. The issue then is how to…
  • p. 39 …In follow-on work, they simplified the modeling of charge exchange with an analytical approach to…
  • p. 40 …Satsangi, "Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Experiments at Low Working Pressure," Prepared under U.S. Army contract DAAK…
  • p. 42 …In Chacon's work, a bounce-averaged Fokker-Planck (BAFP) model was employed to obtain steady…
  • p. 45 …Before discussing this work, some definitions for the potential well structure will be reviewed. POTENTIAL WELL…
  • p. 48 …However, much more work needs to be done along these lines to fully identify the optimal…
  • p. 52 …As pointed out by Khachan his work noted D2+ becomes more significant in lower voltages). In…
  • p. 53 …Nevins, Can inertial electrostatic confinement work beyond the ion-ion collisional time scale?" Phys. Plasmas, Vol…
  • p. 70 …Chacon's work, thermalized ions build up and additional quasi- Maxwellian distriution in the trap). Still…
  • p. 71 …To accomplish this result quickly on a modest budget, we need to simplify the work by…
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Figures
Figure 1.1. An UIUC Spherical IEC .......................................................................... 1
Figure 1.2. Idealized Potential Structure Calculated by Hirsch for Monoenergetic
Ions With No Angular Momentum ......................................................... 6
Figure 1.3. Discharge Modes in Gridded Devices Identified by Miley ...................... 9
Figure 1.4. Photo of Star Mode Seen Through a Reaction Vessel Port Window ....... 9
Figure 1.5. Schematic of the UIUC RF Gun Injector for IEC Experiments .............. 11
Figure 1.6. RF Gun Attached to an IEC Chamber in the UIUC Laboratory .............. 12
Figure 1.7. Photo of Center Spot Formation ......................................................... 12
Figure 2.1. The "Historic" Early IEC Ion Injection Experiment ............................. 14
Figure 2.2. Neutron Rates Measured With the IEC Neutron Rates Measured With
the IEC of Figure 2.1 Exceeded 10 9 DT n/s at 150 kV ......................... 14
Figure 2.3. Photograph of a STAR Mode Discharge ............................................... 16
Figure 2.4. IEC Landmine Detection Project at Kyoto University .......................... 17
Figure 2.5. Scheme for Landmine Detection Using a Hybrid Magnetron Type
IEC Neutron Source ............................................................................ 18
Figure 2.6. 3He Ion Source for Use in 3He • 3 He Fusion Rate Studies at the u Of
Wisconsin ........................................................................................... 19
Figure 3.1. Two Types of Cylindrical IECs ............................................................. 22
Figure 3.2. Jet Operational Mode in Experimental IEC Device and Jet Set-Up ...... 24
Figure 3.3. Illustration of the IEC Jet Thruster Experiment Showing Central
Grid and Two Jet Grids ....................................................................... 27
Figure 3.4. Dipole Reactor Propulsion Scheme ..................................................... 29
Figure 3.5. Dipole Magnetic Field and Layout of Devices ...................................... 30
Figure 3.6. Electron Density Vs. Dipole Magnet Field Strength at 25mtorr, 20mA 31
Figure 4.1. Cross Section of the Experimental Layout of the PFX-I Experiment .... 34
Figure 4.2. Detail of the Anode and the Ion Injection Port in PFX-I ..................... 35
Figure 4.3. Plot of the Q-Value ............................................................................. 37
Figure 4.4. Sketch of Two Opposite Limits of the Beam·Maxwellian Equilibrium .. 38
Figure 4.5. The Definition of the Double Well Depth ............................................. 39
Figure 4.6. The Definition of the Parallel and Perpendicular Velocities at the IEC
Cathode Grid ...................................................................................... 39
Figure 4.7. The Double Well Potential Calculated With IXL Code .......................... 40
Figure 4.8. Ion Density Profile for Potential Well ................................................. 40
Figure 4.9. The D-D Fusion Reaction Rate Versus Cathode Current ...................... 40
Figure 4.10. Plot of Growth Rate of Spherically Converging/Diverging Ion•Beam
Instability ......................................................................................... 42
Figure 4.11. Diagram Showing Equipotential Surfaces of the IEC Cathode Grid .. 45
Figure 4.12. Results for Calculations for Ion Energy Distributions pt Pass .......... 45
Figure 5.1. Block Diagram of the IEC Pulsed Power System ................................. 49
Figure 5.2. Schematic (View From Top) of a Broad Coverage IEC Inspection
System for Luggage Inspection .......................................................... 51
Figure 5.3. Further Illustration of the Integrated System for Airport Luggage
Inspection .......................................................................................... 53
Figure 5.4. Further Illustration of the Integrated System for Ship Container
Inspection .......................................................................................... 53
Figure S.S. Image of a Fusion II Spaceship, a 750·MWe IEC Fusion·Powered
Manned Spacecraft With Ion Thruster Propulsion .............................. 54
Figure 5.6. Scale Schematic of Fusion Ship II, a 750·MWe IEC Fusion
Spacecraft .......................................................................................... 55
Figure 5.7. Illustration of a Three-Unit MCSA Device ............................................ 57
Figure S.S. Diagram of Belt-Cusp Fields and Particle Recirculation ...................... 57
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Report, from the dia collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 72 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.