Method for the release of thermonuclear energy combining impact, magnetic and inertial confinement fusion

Abstract

In the invention, first a relatively large mass is accelerated to a few 10 km/sec and then used to implode and compress a dense magnetized plasma confined inside a small cavity. In the proposed invention the dense plasma shall consist of thermonuclear material, as for example DT, and shall reach upon compression the temperature for thermonuclear ignition. The magnetized plasma is thereby permitted to be preheated by a laser or particle beam or a gas discharge to reduce the required compression to reach thermonuclear ignition. After having reached the ignition temperature the plasma undergoes a thermonuclear burn excursion, greatly increasing its energy content. During this excursion a small window in the wall of the chamber confining the burning plasma breaks open releasing a large amount of the energy within the cavity in the form of black body radiation and shock waves. The energy flux from both the black body radiation and the shock wave is then used to ablatively implode a second stage high density high yield thermonuclear target. The importance of this two stage arrangement is that it permits much higher yields than would be possible with a one stage magnetized target.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.