Charge exchange cooling in the tandem mirror plasma confinement apparatus

Claim 1

A method of increasing the confinement time of a plasma of warm charged species confined through cooling of said species in the center mirror cell of a tandem mirror plasma confinement apparatus comprising: a first end mirror cell comprising an array of current-carrying coils, arranged to produce a minimum B magnetic field of multi-Tesla strength at the current-carrying coils; a second end mirror cell comprising an array of current-carrying coils, arranged to produce a minimum B magnetic field of multi-Tesla strength at the current-carrying coils; a center mirror cell, positioned between the first end mirror cell and the second end mirror cell so as to enclose continuous magnetic field lines between the first end mirror cell and the second end mirror cell, the center mirror cell comprising a solenoid of discrete current-carrying coils; the magnetic field strength at the current-carrying coils of the solenoid being less than the magnetic field strength at the current-carrying coils of the first or second end mirror cell; a first field shaping coil positioned about the magnetic field lines passing between the interiors of the first end mirror cell and the center mirror cell so as to shape the magnetic field lines from an elliptical cross section on the first end mirror cell side of the first field shaping coil to a circular cross section on the center mirror cell side of the first field shaping coil; a second field shaping coil positioned about the magnetic field lines passing between the interiors of the second end mirror cell and the center mirror cell so as to shape the magnetic field lines from an elliptical cross section on the second end mirror cell side of the second field shaping coil to a circular cross section on the center mirror cell side of the second field shaping coil; a first neutral beam source to introduce energetic neutral species of the plasma to be confined into the first end mirror cell so as to maintain a higher density and temperature for positively charged particles in the first end mirror cell than in the center mirror cell; a second neutral beam source to introduce energetic neutral species of the plasma to be confined into the second end mirror cell so as to maintain a higher density and temperature for the resulting positively charged particles in the second end mirror cell than in the center mirror cell; a first target production means for generating a target plasma in the first end mirror cell for startup; a second target production means for generating a target plasma in the second end mirror cell for startup; a vacuum pumping means for evacuating the inside of the plasma confinement apparatus; whereby the first end mirror cell and the second end mirror cell plasma each develop a net positive charge, the center mirror cell plasma develops a net negative charge, the first and second end mirror cell plasmas repel positively charged particles contained in the center mirror cell, and the end mirror cells electrostatically end stoppering the center mirror cell, the method comprising: injecting cold neutral species into at least one mirroring region of the center mirror cell; interacting the cold neutral species with the warm charged species so as to undergo charge exchange to neutralize a portion of the warm charged species to warm neutral species; diffusing the warm neutral species out of the mirroring region where it was neutralized; pumping the warm neutral species; whereby the plasma to be contained in the center mirror cell is cooled by the loss of a portion of the warm charged species as warm neutral species.

Claim 2

A method of increasing the confinement time of a plasma of warm charged species confined through cooling of said species in the center mirror cell of a tandem mirror plasma confinement apparatus comprising: a first end mirror cell comprising an array of current-carrying coils, arranged to produce a minimum B magnetic field of multi-Tesla strength at the current-carrying coils; a second end mirror cell comprising an array of current-carrying coils, arranged to produce a minimum B magnetic field of multi-Tesla strength at the current-carrying coils; a center mirror cell, positioned between the first end mirror cell and the second end mirror cell so as to enclose continuous magnetic field lines between the first end mirror cell and the second end mirror cell, the center mirror cell comprising a solenoid of discrete current-carrying coils; the magnetic field strength at the current-carrying coils of the solenoid being less than the magnetic field strength at the current-carrying coils of the first or second end mirror cell; a first field shaping coil positioned about the magnetic field lines passing between the interiors of the first end mirror cell and the center mirror cell so as to shape the magnetic field lines from an elliptical cross section on the first end mirror cell side of the first field shaping coil to a circular cross section on the center mirror cell side of the first field shaping coil; a second field shaping coil positioned about the magnetic field lines passing between the interiors of the second end mirror cell and the center mirror cell so as to shape the magnetic field lines from an elliptical cross section on the second end mirror cell side of the second field shaping coil to a circular cross section on the center mirror cell side of the second field shaping coil; a first neutral beam source to introduce energetic neutral species of the plasma to be confined into the first end mirror cell so as to maintain a higher density and temperature for positively charged particles in the first end mirror cell than in the center mirror cell; a second neutral beam source to introduce energetic neutral species of the plasma to be confined into the second end mirror cell so as to maintain a higher density and temperature for the resulting positively charged particles in the second end mirror cell than in the center mirror cell; a first target production means for generating a target plasma in the first end mirror cell for startup; a second target production means for generating a target plasma in the second end mirror cell for startup; a vacuum pumping means for evacuating the inside of the plasma confinement apparatus; whereby the first end mirror cell and the second end mirror cell plasma each develop a net positive charge, the center mirror cell plasma develops a net negative charge, the first and second end mirror cell plasmas repel positively charged particles contained in the center mirror cell, and the end mirror cells electrostatically end stoppering the center mirror cell, the method comprising: injecting cold neutral species into at least one mirroring region of the center mirror cell; interacting the cold neutral species with the warm charged species so as to undergo charge exchange to neutralize a portion of the warm charged species to warm neutral species; diffusing the warm neutral species out of the mirroring region where it was neutralized; pumping the warm neutral species; whereby the plasma to be contained in the center mirror cell is cooled by the loss of a portion of the warm charged species as warm neutral species.