[QuantumDot]

I read an article about a recent creation by some physicists at NYU, in which they managed to create a knotted holographic optical trap. Now the reason that i think you should find this interesting and something to look into is that it might be able to increase either confinement time, density, temperature, or any combination of the three. While unfortunately still in early days it is something that i think that you should look at add at the end of your testing after boron has been added to see if it can improve results.

Since they are pretty close to your lab and i think that they would be equally interested in the results you might be able to get them to do it for free or even pay you for the opportunity to test there equipment on a fusion device.

[QuantumDot]

Similar to the polywell there is the Crossfire, the PJIMF(promising), z-pinch, magnetic target fusion, field reversed configuration, reversed field pinch, pyroelectric fusion

http://www.crossfirefusion.com/nuclear-fusion-reactor/overview.html
http://www.icarusinterstellar.org/blog/category/fusion-2/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-pinch
http://wsx.lanl.gov/mtf.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-reversed_configuration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversed_field_pinch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyroelectric_fusion

[QuantumDot]

you might want to look at the Skylon cryogenic system and LACE systems. Skylon uses liquid hydrogen to cool the system and the air that it uses to just a little before it turns liquid, while the lace system will cool it until it does become liquid.

http://www.reactionengines.co.uk/
http://www.sworld.com.au/steven/space/lace.txt

and cpu’s can get very hot so you might want to look at the cooling systems designed for them
various liquid cooling
air cooling passive or active( fan, or ionic wind aka plasma)
pelter or other heat pumps to move the heat to cool the important systems
heat sinks
cryogenic systems
thermoelectric, pyroelectric, and other similar systems

[QuantumDot]

With Radiations Shield Technologies Demron it may be possible to remove a lot of the other shielding, maybe all of it for a blanket of the stuff, which claims to be able to stop alpha particles, beta particles, neutrons, x-rays, low energy gamma which is the harmful stuff; so it seems to cover everything you need, take up less space and less mass

http://www.radshield.com/

[QuantumDot]

well there are some technologies that can change a number of those figures.

the biggest new technology would be plasma aerodynamics would has in scale models reduced drag by 30 percent and reduced heating by 50 percent. the current major problem with it is the amount of power needed to operate it.

the heat shielding system i think is about 30 percent of the dry weight could be significantly reduced with a better reenter trajectory and with new technologies the mass could be significantly reduced even more with flexible aerogels, new ceramic blankets, phase change materials, the already described plasma aerodynamics, meta-materials, etc.

current hydraulic flight control systems take about 10 percent of the dry weight of the space shuttle, there are currently two real alternatives either ferromagnetic shape memory alloy or plasma based flow control.

then there is the basic structure and design which could be moved to a more blended wing body and the mass could be reduced with new technologies. no real facts here but 20 percent more room and 30 percent less mass seems possible.

a precooler system should be able to improve the performance the only question is the trade off between something like the system for skylon or a pulse tube cryogenic cooler.

[QuantumDot]

so from the explanation fusion is not involved at all, in any way, at any step.

[QuantumDot]

some one has come up with a theory which looks quite interesting and i’m a little surprised after reading it that it has not been more publicly discussed. the basic idea is that,
step one it creates a heavy surface plasmon polariton
step two the electron from the plasmon combine with a proton from the hydrogen to create an ultra low momentum neutron
step three which then join with atoms creating unstable isotopes
step four the unstable isotope then under go beta decay creating gamma rays which when they hit the surface plasmon polarition are converted to infra red radiation and some x rays

http://www.newenergytimes.com/v2/news/2010/35/SR35913widomlarsen.shtml

[QuantumDot]

Well the first question should be if you are going for Constant Pressure Combustion or Constant Volume Combustion.

Constant pressure combustion is the current method of propulsion used.
Constant volume combustion is currently under research and is often called pulse detonation engine and its theoretically able to give better performance, the current problems are powering the detonation, and constructing a tube that can survive the detonation for any length of time.

one way for Constant pressure combustion would be to use carbon nano tubes to ionize the air and then use a MHD drive, it would work at subsonic for supersonic you would need something more to ionize more air faster.

the REB and direct alpha could both be used for either propulsion method based on the engine design.

[QuantumDot]

well you could make a laser turn 180 degrees with meta materials and the best would probable be plasmon based meta materials with a VCSEL (Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser) but how to get it work in without something to keep it in place it hard to imagine. and it still wouldn’t interferer with another sword. there have been some experaments that can get laser light to bend or twist with some modification to the emitter but it still wouldn’t get the effect of the light saber.

another idea is to use two or more lasers to create multiple small plasma explosions in the shape of a meter long blade. this is basically the pass system or plasma acoustic shield system.
http://orbitalvector.com/Defenses/PASS/PLASMA ACOUSTIC SHIELD SYSTEM.htm

[QuantumDot]

a British company named magnifye have created a way to make superconducting magnets that are a ten times more powerful then some of the best and about 2 million times smaller.
http://www.magnifye.com/

researchers at the university of Texas have learned how to create carbon nano tubes that can be used to create wires of various compounded, including superconductors, and they would be pliable.
http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/27039/?mod=chfeatured

a Japanese researcher has used red wine to create a superconductor at a much higher temperature using FeTe0.8S0.2 by sealing iron (Fe), tellurium (Te) and tellurium sulfide (TeS) powders into an evacuate quartz tube and heating the mixture at 600°C for 10 hours.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-hot-booze-material-superconductor.html

so within 5 years i would expect the price and size of superconductors to decease radically.

[QuantumDot]

the British recently created a UAV with plasma actuators, which can save about 10 percent of the weight of a plane, while the current design tested will not work at high speed( above mach 1 ) there is a another design that will work at hypersonic speeds, the current problem is the amount of energy needed to make it work which wouldn’t be a problem with a DPF, a sophisticated design is believed to be able to reduce drag by 30 percent and reduce heating from drag by 50 percent.

as to the propulsion design Richard Dell who is working on a polywell design with George Miley think that they have created a magneto hydrodynamic vertical takeoff system. which would work something like the propulsion system for the “Red October” in that it would ionize the air then using electro magnets create a suction force on the air and then again use magnets to keep the air from hitting the sides of the drive to help keep them cool, so imagine a funnel, that is how it will compress the air without fans. depending on the design it might compress a large amount of air to a near liquid before expelling it from the rear of the engine.

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/01/richard-dell-who-is-developing-nuclear.html

[QuantumDot]

you don’t need lead or heavy water for the radiation shielding, and well planes should probably have shielding anyway.

there is a company called radiation shield technologies which makes a product called demron which is made of a combination of plastics and organics and inorganic salts to create shielding from alpha, beta, low energy gamma and x rays.
http://www.radshield.com/

[QuantumDot]

So what is next for FoFu?

As i understand it there are a few things that you are currently working on and have a number of things planned.

ex Ramp up the current to 45ma.
play with the timing of the current with the pinch.
switch the electrodes.

I imagine that its too early to switch to boron yet even thou you have reached a high enough temperature to test fusion with boron.

just out of curiosity how many shots are you firing a week now.

[QuantumDot]

From what i have read they plan to remove the permanent magnetization of the materials in the DPF by using non magnetic materials so it shouldn’t be a problem in the future.

[QuantumDot]

Well the only technology that i can find that fits with the description is the dusty plasma based fission fragment nuclear reactor or maybe some form of beta-voltaic device, the beta voltaic while mature is going thru a material revolution and the dusty plasma don’t seem vary mature to me.

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