Helium Catalyzed D-D Fusion in a Levitated Dipole

Fusion research has focused on the goal of a fusion power source that utilizes deuterium and tritium (D-T) because the reaction rate is relatively large. Fusion reactors based on the deuterium-deuterium (D-D) reaction however, might be superior to D-T based reactors in so far as they minimize the power produced in neutrons and do not requires the breeding of tritium. We explore an alternative D-D based fuel cycle and show that a levitated dipole may be uniquely suited for this application. We find that a dipole based D-D power source can potentially provide a substantially better utilization of magnetic field energy with a comparable mass power density to a D-T based tokamak