Investigation on the feasibility of fusion in a compressed beam of ions subject to an electrostatic field

Abstract

The paper reports a new electrostatic-confinement-based fusion approach, where a new non-equilibrium distribution function for an ion-beam compressed by an external electric force has been derived. This distribution function allows the system to possess appreciably low and insignificant thermal energy irrespective of the energy per particle. The spread of energy among particles in the non-equilibrium state is attributed to collisions in the presence of external force, whereas for equilibrium, the spreading of energy is due to the absence of force. The reactivity for a deuterium--deuterium fusion, using the proposed distribution function, has been computed. It is shown that for initiating fusion among the particles, the fusion time is comparable with the energy confinement time of ions for beam energy greater than 160 keV. The estimated energy gain factor Q (ratio of the output fusion power to the power consumed by the system) is around 12 for beam energy 170 keV and ion density 1015 cm−3. The energy loss due to particle scattering is estimated and is taken into consideration for the estimation of energy gain. An outline of a conceptual model of a device is proposed in accordance with the proposed theory and the device is not similar to the one used conventionally in Inertial Electrostatic Confinement systems based on collisions of a beam with a reflex beam or with background gas or plasma.