Reply To: Need of beryllium and other rare materials for Focus Fusion

[Brian H]

vansig wrote:

the field generated in the plasmoid will quickly dominate the process. i doubt there is any benefit

As I understood the process, the axial field is used to start the field rotating in order to assist the process, and that it is an important part of the process. So, I think that tuning the action of the axial field has merit

*tuning* has merit. but, once the pinch has started, there isn’t much you can do. what use would it be to affect .00000001% of the field, if you have only a few nanoseconds to sense and correct?
Tuning during the shot is not the point; optimizing shot-to-shot and as the generator runs for long periods is. The components of the chamber acquire some permanent magnetism,e.g., and influence the magnetic environment, so there isn’t either a single-number fix, or a need to play with the field during the kinking process so much as match the contribution of the axial field to the best trend. Hence my suggestion to use fuzzy logic; “a bit more of this, a bit less of that.”