Abstract

This paper is a sequel to the 1998 review paper “Scientific status of the Dense Plasma Focus” with 16 authors belonging to 16 nations, whose initiative led to the establishment of the International Center for Dense Magnetized Plasmas (ICDMP) in the year 2000. Its focus is on understanding the principal defining characteristic features of the plasma focus in the light of the developments that have taken place in the last 20 years, in terms of new facilities, diagnostics, models, and insights. Although it is too soon to proclaim with certainty what the plasma focus phenomenon is, the results available to date conclusively indicate what it is demonstrably not. The review looks at the experimental data, cross-correlated across multiple diagnostics and multiple devices, to delineate the contours of an emerging narrative that is fascinatingly different from the standard narrative, which has guided the consensus in the plasma focus community for several decades, without invalidating it. It raises a question mark over the Fundamental Premise of Controlled Fusion Research, namely, that any fusion reaction having the character of a beam-target process must necessarily be more inefficient than a thermonuclear process with a confined thermal plasma at a suitably high temperature. Open questions that need attention of researchers are highlighted. A future course of action is suggested that individual plasma focus laboratories could adopt in order to positively influence the future growth of research in this field, to the general benefit of not only the controlled fusion research community but also the world at large.

Highlights

  • This article is a sequel to the 78-page review article “Scientific Status of the DensePlasma Focus” [1] published in 1998 with 16 authors belonging to 16 nations

  • The actual establishment of the International Center for Dense Magnetized Plasmas was formalized in the AGREEMENT between the International Scientific Committee for Dense Magnetized Plasmas and the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion “On the Establishment and Operation of the International Center for Dense Magnetised Plasmas” that was signed on October 17, 2000, by the Chairman of the ISCDMP and the Director of Institute for Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion (IPPLM)

  • The UNU International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Plasma Fusion Facility (PFF) is an established research device operating in 12 countries

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Summary

Introduction

This article is a sequel to the 78-page review article “Scientific Status of the DensePlasma Focus” [1] published in 1998 with 16 authors belonging to 16 nations. To teach and train young scientific workers in performing experimental investigations with the use of modern and complex apparatus under the supervision of experienced scientists from various countries

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