High-current pulsed operation of an inertial-electrostatic confinement (IEC) device

Recent advances in pulsed power supply technology has allowed the star mode inertial-electrostatic confinement (IEC) to pulse to high currents, 17 A, at a peak voltage of 50 kV, and a pulse width of 100 μs at a frequency of 10 Hz. These results represent an increase in cathode currents of three orders of magnitude over steady state sources. Neutron production at the peak of the pulse was found to be ~10⁹ n/s of D-D neutrons. This increase in pulsed current operation, and corresponding linear scaling of fusion reaction rates, represents a significant step forward in the development of IEC controlled fusion. An “effective-Q” of this operation was calculated to be 6×10^-5. Analysis of IEC operation at higher current indicates that breakeven, with an effective-Q of 1.0, might be reached with additional increase in cathode current of only ~2 orders of magnitude