| abstract |
Ionized boron and protons are used as nuclear reactants in a field-reversed configuration system, and fused to yield three alpha particles with kinetic energy convertible to useful energy. The boron and proton beams are injected from injectors (32 and 34) respectively, into the reaction chamber (12) in such a manner as to have a relative energy of 0.65 MeV, corresponding to a resonance maximum in the reaction cross section. The boron beam has energy of 0.412 MeV and the proton beam has energy of 1 MeV. Furthermore, in the device of the invention, the beams tend to circulate in the same direction, thereby avoiding rapid change in the mean velocities of the beams due to ion-ion scattering. The ions remain confined for relatively long periods, enhancing fusion collisions. Both ion beams should not have temperatures greater than 100 keV, because this will detract from the resonance in cross section. |