Electron power loss along open field lines

Abstract

The linear mirror geometry for a high fluence, neutron irradiation facility is evaluated by current studies. In this steady state, low-Q design, a two-component plasma is driven by neutral beams with mirror confinement of the hot ions and with no electrostatic axial reduction in the warm ion end losses. Warm ion fuelling and end-wall power denstiy could require substantial plasma density exterior to the mirror cell and neutral gas near the end wall. The paper evaluates to what extent the electron power loss parallel to the magnetic field along open field lines is a function of the escaping warm plasma collisionality and of the end-wall conditions. Within the limits of a one-dimensional model, equations are developed to calculate the electron temperature.