Apparatus for the stable confinement of an ionized gas column inside a magnetic field

Apparatus for the stable confinement of a fast rotating gaseous mixture of heavy gas component and a light gas component comprising:

• an elongated vessel having a wall of circular cross section;
• means for cooling the vessel;
• at least one supply pipe for supplying a gaseous mixture of heavy and light components to the interior of the vessel;
• means spaced from the vessel wall for imparting rapid rotation to the gas in the center of the vessel so that the heavy gas component, by means of a high pressure gradient caused by centrifugal forces, moves to the inside of the vessel wall and so that the light gas component forms a central gas column extending axially in the vessel, means in said vessel for ionizing the gas column, means about said vessel for inducing an axial stationary magnetic field extending the length of the vessel so that the gas in the vessel is subjected to the field, and means within the vessel including an electrode electrically insulated from and adjacent the vessel wall for producing a radial electrical potential between the ionizing means and the vessel wall by rendering the gas column anodic and the vessel cathodic;
• means for flowing the heavy gas component in the form of a gas envelope axially along the vessel wall and then a gas column axially in an opposite direction;
• discharge pipes adjacent the ends of the vessel for separately removing the heavy and light component respectively.