C60-Fullerene Hyper-Velocity High-Density Plasma Jets for MIF and Disruption Mitigation

Abstract

We present an innovative idea to use hyper-velocity (>30 km/s) high-density (>1017 cm−3) plasma jets of D-T/H and C60-fullerene for magneto-inertial fusion (MIF), high energy density laboratory plasma (HEDLP), and disruption mitigation in magnetic fusion plasma devices. The mass (~1–2 g) of sublimated C60 and hydrogen (or D-T fuel) produced in a pulsed power source is ionized and accelerated as a plasma slug in a coaxial plasma accelerator. For MIF/HEDLP we propose to create a magnetized plasma target by injecting two high-Mach number high-density jets with fuel (D-T) and liner (C60/C) structure along the axis of a pulsed magnetic mirror. The magnetized target fusion (MTF) plasma created by head-on collision and stagnation of jets is compressed radially by a metallic liner (Z-pinch) and axially by the C60/C liner. For disruption mitigation, the C60 plasma jets were shown to be able to provide the required impurity mass (J Fusion Energy 27:6, 2008).