Mechanical Design and Installation of the TMX Injector System

摘要

The injector system for the Tandem Mirror Experiment at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory is used to create, heat and maintain the magnetically-confined, deuterium plasma. This paper extends Calderon's original description of the mechanical aspects of the TMX injector system, and covers new developments now that it is installed and functioning. The startup target plasma is supplied by four titanium-washer-type, streaming-plasma guns. An alternate method of establishing the target plasma has been incorporated, which uses four, 2XIIB electron-beam guns to ionize the deuterium gas supplied by the gas stabilization system. The plasma is heated and maintained by the injection of high-energy, neutral deuterium atoms into the target plasma, where they are ionized, and magnetically confined. These high-energy deuterium atoms are produced by sixteen 20-keV injectors and eight 40-keV injectors. The gas-stabilization system is used to feed cold deuterium gas into the plasma to form a cold plasma sheath that helps stabilize the hot, dense plasma. (ERA citation 05:014565)