Controlled Fusion Research-An Application of the Physics of High Temperature Plasmas

Abstract

Some of the long-range implications and advantages of achieving the production of power from controlled fusion reactions between isotopes of hydrogen, helium, and lithium are set forth. The physical conditions which seemingly must be established to accomplish this are presented. These are shown to lead to a situation in which the fusion fuel will exist in the form of a very hot, tenuous, fully ionized gas-i.e., a plasma. It is shown that the required conditions can be maintained only by the use of a force field, for example, a magnetic field, to confine the plasma. A simple example of magnetic confinement-the pinch effect-is described. The electrodynamic properties of a fully ionized gas interacting with a magnetic field are briefly outlined. General scaling laws which would probably apply to any operable controlled fusion reactor are given. Examples are cited of fruitless approaches to the achievement of controlled fusion. Some aspects of the problem of "plasma diagnostics" are described to illustrate means for an experimental approach to high temperature plasma physics.