Reply To: No-go for cheap fusion?

[jamesr]

Brian H wrote: Will the alpha waves rip the containment vessel to smithereenies?
😉

No – if anything it is the opposite. Showing a mechanism by which the alpha energy is deposited in the core plasma rather than escaping.

Plasmas are full of different waves at a vast range of wavelengths and timescales. It is the interaction of these various oscillations mechanisms with each other and with individual ions/electrons that is the main focus of plasma physics. In this case it is the collisionless coupling of the alpha motion with the Lower Hybrid wave that was being studied. The lower hybrid wave is just one particular resonant oscillation at a particular frequency combination of the ion and electron cyclotron frequencies. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_hybrid_oscillation