Thermo-diffusion in inertially confined plasmas

Inertially confined plasma in an imploding bubble

Models of spherical supersonic bubble implosion in cavitating liquids predict that it could generate temperatures and densities sufficient to drive thermonuclear fusion1,2. Convincing evidence for fusion is yet to be shown, but the transient conditions generated by acoustic cavitation are certainly extreme3–5. There is, however, a remarkable lack of observable data on the conditions created dur...

The Scientific Benefits of Inertially Confined Fusion Research

Runaway expansion in magnetically confined electron plasmas

Magnetic confinement of neutral plasmas in a tokamak is one of the most promising avenues for generating power via nuclear fusion. Plasma disruption and energy loss, however, continue to cause problems even as larger experimental plants are being built. In particular, cyclical disruption of the plasma’s core electron temperature is a persistent but poorly explained phenomenon. In this paper, I ...

Diffusion in confined geometries.

Diffusive transport of particles or, more generally, small objects, is a ubiquitous feature of physical and chemical reaction systems. In configurations containing confining walls or constrictions, transport is controlled both by the fluctuation statistics of the jittering objects and the phase space available to their dynamics. Consequently, the study of transport at the macro- and nanoscales ...

Electromagnetic Wall Torques from Magnetically Confined Plasmas

A direct method to measure the localized magnetic shear stress and hence electromagnetic torque or force exerted on a wall by a fluctuating magnetic field is presented. A model of the wall is needed when the magnetic measurements do not include the normal component. Explicit formulas for thin and thick walls are given. Estimates of the force in illustrative Alcator C-Mod tokamak plasmas provide...