A novel fusion reactor with chain reactions for proton-boron11

TL;DR

This paper proposes a conceptual fusion reactor that combines laser-plasma interactions and magnetic confinement to initiate chain reactions in proton-boron11 fusion, aiming for high energy gain with low radiation levels.

Contribution

It introduces a novel reactor design that utilizes laser-induced shock waves and magnetic confinement to sustain chain reactions in proton-boron11 fusion.

Findings

Conceptual design of a chain-reaction fusion reactor.

Mechanism for accelerating protons to 600 keV.

Potential for high energy gain with low radiation.

Abstract

Using a combination of laser-plasma interactions and magnetic confinement configurations, a conceptual fusion reactor is proposed in this paper. Our reactor consists of the following: 1) A background plasma of boron11 and hydrogen ions, plus electrons, is generated and kept for a certain time, with densities of the order of a milligram/cm3and temperatures of tens of eV. Both the radiation level and the plasma thermal pressure are thus very low. 2) A plasma channel is induced in a solid target by irradiation with a high power laser that creates a very intense shock wave. This mechanism conveys the acceleration of protons in the laser direction. The mechanisms must be tuned for the protons to reach a kinetic energy of 600 keV (note that this value is not a temperature). 3) Those ultra-fast protons enter the background plasma and collide with a boron11 to produce 3 alphas of 2.9 MeV. 4) Fusion born alphas collide with protons of the plasma and accelerate them up to 600 keV causing a chain reaction. 5) A combination of an induction current and a magnetic bottle keeps the chain reaction process going on, for a pulse long enough to get a high energy gain. 6) Materials for the background plasma and the laser target must be replaced for starting a new chain reaction cycle.