(PhysOrg.com) -- High-gain nuclear fusion could be achieved in a preheated cylindrical container immersed in strong magnetic fields, according to a series of computer simulations performed at Sandia National Laboratories.
The simulations show the release of output energy that was, remarkably, many times greater than the energy fed into the container’s liner. The method appears to be 50 times more efficient than using X-rays — a previous favorite at Sandia — to drive implosions of targeted materials to create fusion conditions.
“People didn’t think there was a high-gain option for magnetized inertial fusion (MIF) but these numerical simulations show there is,” said Sandia researcher Steve Slutz, the paper’s lead author. “Now we have to see if nature will let us do it. In principle, we don’t know why we can’t.”
Nuclear fusion simulation shows high-gain energy output
Nuclear fusion simulation shows high-gain energy output
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-03-nuc ... nergy.html
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TheRadicalModerate
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I think this article is reporting the same results as this.
The more I read about this, the more it sounds like a close cousin of the Winterberg REB-pinch.TheRadicalModerate wrote:I think this article is reporting the same results as this.
http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/a ... rview.html
The complication remains the hohlraum, but there are options besides gold. Winterberg has a particular affection for Teller-Ulam derived mixed cycles.
Vae Victis
REB-pinch consequences?
If the REB-pinch machine works, the world just became a much more dangerous place. It's a directed, pure fusion explosion. No fission necessary.
There's nothing I can think of keeping such a machine from being the primary for a much larger explosion. I could imagine a set of 12 or 20 such devices arrayed as a dodecahedron or icosahedron (respectively) with more fusion fuel in the middle and heavy metal shock lenses between: a pure fusion bomb. I'm sure the design wouldn't be that simple, but I'll bet it wouldn't be too hard either; a clever designer might be able to make one in their garage.
And, it seems to me, one need not stop at 25kg. A fusion fuel cone that produces the explosive force of 100 or 1000kg of TNT (or much, much more) should also be perfectly possible, if you're willing to sacrifice the machine to the explosion....Especially if you have a smaller REB-pinch powering the larger. A directed EMP of immense, city-crippling magnitude becomes almost trivial. One that's planet crippling seems at least remotely possible.
Sooner or later we'll get to the point where every single individual has the power to destroy a world. At that point, we'll either have to grow up as a species or become extinct. If REB-pinch works, that time has gotten much closer much faster than I was expecting it to.
.....
Of course, those same devices would be amazing for constructive purposes too: excavation for canals, tunnels and mines; rocket engines for launch vehicles and interplanetary vehicles; asteroid deflection, etc.
One might also use it for pumping x-ray or gamma-ray laser pulses of impossible size. Imagine cutting a tunnel through a mountain in a matter of minutes with a few dozen laser pulses? Or creating kilograms of antimatter via the decay of gamma-rays in such a laser?
And couldn't one use the shock wave as the ignition for a boron-hydrogen power source, reducing the amount of deuterium-tritium fuel burned and reducing --though not eliminating-- the need for lithium? Could one get a less neutronic power source that way?
There's nothing I can think of keeping such a machine from being the primary for a much larger explosion. I could imagine a set of 12 or 20 such devices arrayed as a dodecahedron or icosahedron (respectively) with more fusion fuel in the middle and heavy metal shock lenses between: a pure fusion bomb. I'm sure the design wouldn't be that simple, but I'll bet it wouldn't be too hard either; a clever designer might be able to make one in their garage.
And, it seems to me, one need not stop at 25kg. A fusion fuel cone that produces the explosive force of 100 or 1000kg of TNT (or much, much more) should also be perfectly possible, if you're willing to sacrifice the machine to the explosion....Especially if you have a smaller REB-pinch powering the larger. A directed EMP of immense, city-crippling magnitude becomes almost trivial. One that's planet crippling seems at least remotely possible.
Sooner or later we'll get to the point where every single individual has the power to destroy a world. At that point, we'll either have to grow up as a species or become extinct. If REB-pinch works, that time has gotten much closer much faster than I was expecting it to.
.....
Of course, those same devices would be amazing for constructive purposes too: excavation for canals, tunnels and mines; rocket engines for launch vehicles and interplanetary vehicles; asteroid deflection, etc.
One might also use it for pumping x-ray or gamma-ray laser pulses of impossible size. Imagine cutting a tunnel through a mountain in a matter of minutes with a few dozen laser pulses? Or creating kilograms of antimatter via the decay of gamma-rays in such a laser?
And couldn't one use the shock wave as the ignition for a boron-hydrogen power source, reducing the amount of deuterium-tritium fuel burned and reducing --though not eliminating-- the need for lithium? Could one get a less neutronic power source that way?