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Christmas Light
’Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
No electrons were flowing through even my mouse.
All devices were plugged by the chimney with care
With the hope that St. Nikola Tesla would share.
Abraham J. Fetterman, Nathaniel J. Fisch
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 1 | January 2011 | Pages 136-139
doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A11592
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Centrifugal mirrors use supersonic rotation to provide axial confinement and enhanced stability. Usually the rotation is produced using electrodes, but these electrodes have limited the rotation to the Alfven critical ionization velocity, which is too slow to be useful for fusion. Instead, the rotation could be produced using radio frequency waves. A fixed azimuthal ripple is a simple and efficient wave that could produce rotation by harnessing alpha particle energy. This is an extension of the alpha channeling effect. The alpha particle power and efficiency in a simulated devices is sufficient to produce rotation without external energy input. By eliminating the need for electrodes, this opens new opportunities for centrifugal traps.