Reply To: Energy Policy in Chile – Economist Article

[Rezwan]

AaronB wrote: There are two separate processes going on. First, the axial field coil is used to impart a small amount of spin to the plasma sheath so the filaments merge gently. After the filaments merge into a single filament, that new filament generates its own large magnetic field that compresses the filament, known as a z-pinch. At that point, the filament starts to coil like a spring or telephone cord. The coils attract each other and collapse into the smallest stable shape, a toroid. The toroid continues to shrink under its own massive theta-pinch forces, and when the conditions are right, the energetic ions get squeezed so hard that they begin to fuse. The high magnetic fields keep the ions and electrons from bouncing in all different directions, thus preventing the production of a lot of X-rays.

Great explanation, Aaron. Do you have references to journals and publications on this topic? We need to gather more peer review links. Of course, I need to set the website up to have a way to dynamically populate with such references as they are found.

For example, the axial field coil will inject spin into the sheath, but it may affect the orientation of the plasmoid also. That would probably stabilize the ion beam output, which would be a good thing. Other factors will affect the overall process and eventual output.

The above are the concepts being tested, correct?