Compressing nuclei in velocity space?

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Sven Andersson
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Real name: Sven Andersson

Compressing nuclei in velocity space?

Post by Sven Andersson »

I believe in the ideas of Charles S. Cagle, that fusion happens when fuel nuclei are close in phase space; that is they have to be close in position space and at the same time travel at the same speed and in the same direction, i.e. they must be close in velocity space, too. So, how can we make nuclei in a plasma close in velocity space? If some sort of trick can be thought out that compresses some fuel nuclei in a plasma (in velocity space), then statistically there will be more fusion reactions, perhaps so many that break even can be reached.

I was looking at a video on YouTube the other day of charged particles in crossed electric and magnetic fields. Somehow I get the intuitive feeling that some sort of arrangement with fields like that, perhaps varying in time, could compress some nuclei in velocity space.

Let's say we make two nuclei that are close in position space, oscillate with different frequencies, but that the oscillations are coupled, so that one is forced to oscillate faster and the other slower (than they actually should), would some sort of force act on them then, if they are in a crossed electric/magnetic field?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eOn5K9qZu4

or search for: "610 - Motion of the charged particles in the crossed electric and magnetic fields."
prestonbarrows
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Re: Compressing nuclei in velocity space?

Post by prestonbarrows »

Don't know who this Cagle fellow is, but the probability of fusion reactions (i.e. cross-section) tend to scale with the relative velocity of the two fuel nuclei. In the case of a beam into a stationary target, this means the cross-section is dependent on the energy/velocity of the beam and in the case of a confined plasma, the cross-section is dependent on the temperature for a thermalized reactor or more generally on the energy distribution for a non-thermal reactor.

Two particular nuclei close in phase space will have nearly zero relative velocity to eachother. In this case, the fusion cross-section for those particles approaches zero and they might as well be sitting around in a bottle on the shelf.

The behavior of charged particles in crossed magnetic and electric fields is a well understood field. This is the fundamental physics that drives the magnetron in your microwave oven and countless other devices in the world of RF and plasma physics.

There is some possibility of inducing controlled oscillations in an IEC device to produce compression and rarefaction such that the yield is increased during the compression period sufficiently to offset the reduction of yield in the rarefaction period and raise the effective fusion yield over many integrated cycles. This is generally referred to as POPS and a number of papers can be found in the literature on the subject. The general problem, as always, is that that like-charges repel each other and any method you try to push them together will inevitably push back. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
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