Reply To: X-ray cooling?

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jamesr wrote: Accelerator experiments under carefully controlled conditions, like you describe, are useful to determine the precise collision cross sections (reaction probabilities), but useless as a way of getting energy out.

I’m not necessarily convinced of this. First off, you want the target cold because you want to eliminate the thermal heat velocity noise. Maybe there is an exact energy the ions need to fuse.

Now as regards energy coming out, you’d charge up the target to a high or low voltage, whatever is correct to get the right speed ions hitting it. When an ion hits and fuses, does it change the net charge on the target? Maybe the charge stays the same.

Keeping it all cool instead of a general hot plasma seems easier to control. Hot plasma is difficult to contain, as everyone knows.

Just tossing out ideas. Thanks for your response.

-Dave