Heating plasma for nuclear fusion reactions - using coils outside toroidal container to produce magnetic field modulated at kHz frequency

摘要

Process for heating a plasma, contained in a torus by a vertical magnetic field which is parallel to the axis of symmetry, Oz, of the torus, by modulating the field at a frequency, w and wave number, K such that w = KVD, where VD is the displacement velocity of the plasma ions along axis Oz. The appts. comprises coil, outside the toroidal container, around which current flows in circles whose centre is the axis of the toroid. The modulation frequency is pref. about 1 kHz and the ratio of radial to vertical components of the magnetic field is pref. 1-30%. The system is esp. for controlled fusion reactors. The process uses the ]Landau' effect which is more efficient than the effect of collisions in the plasma. At frequencies of about 1 kHz, the waves have sufficient penetration that the the coils can be placed outside the container, thus avoiding problems of impurities in the plasma.