Attainment of Gigavolt Potentials by Fluid Dynamic Suppression of the Stepped Leader its Significance for Thermonuclear Ignition

摘要

It is proposed to levitate a conducting sphere in a high pressure Taylor flowand to charge it up to gigavolt potentials, either mechanically as in a Van deGraaff electrostatic generator, or inductively by a rising magnetic field. Ifthe Taylor flow is sufficiently fast, it should overcome the electric pressureand breakdown by stepped leader formation, leading to the maximum attainablevoltage by the Paschen law. Discharging the electrostatically stored energy canbe done by controlled breakdown. With gigajoule energies stored and released inabout 10^-8 sec, this implies and electric pulse power of the order 10^17 Watt,opening the prospect of large driver energies for thermonuclear ignition.