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Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
L. Wu, H. Momota, G. H. Miley
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 4 | November 2007 | Pages 1056-1060
Technical Paper | Plasma Engineering and Diagnostics | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1635
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Interactions of charge exchange and ionization of fast, low-charged heavy ions are very important in heavy ion beam inertial confinement fusion. These effects are crucial indetermination of the final focusing in the chamber. However, corresponding cross section data is very limited and/or not accurate over the entire range of energies and ions of interest. This paper reports on our recent studies of cross sections for interactions of heavy ions with noble gases. Since a quantum mechanical treatment encounters a complex many-body problem, a classical trajectory Monte Carlo method is employed. The distribution of inner electrons is estimated by a modified Hartree-Fock model for the purpose of decreasing the number of electron orbits calculated, a micro-canonical ensemble for the initial electron probability distribution is introduced to describe quantum mechanical uncertainty. Cross sections are evaluated over a limited energy range; then scaling laws are developed to reflect the change probability for the beam charge state over a larger energy range.