Stabilized imploding liner fusion systems

A new concept in imploding liner plasma compression is described in which a liquid metal liner is imploded by pistons driven by high-pressure gas, and stability of the inner surface against Rayleigh-Taylor modes is achieved by rotation. The principle has been demonstrated by using a water liner to compress air. This 'captive liner' offers the possibility of stable, reversible implosion-expansion cycles in which the plasma energy is recovered into the driving system, leading to reactor cycles with low Q and, hence, small size. A new method of setting up closed-field confinement geometries inside a liner using a rotating electron beam is described. Plasma currents induced by the beam provide initial plasma heating and generate the containment geometry. Persistence of plasma currents 100 times longer than the beam duration has been observed. Development of these methods could lead to a very compact thermonuclear reactor operating in the manner of a reciprocating engine. (author)