Very Small Scale Electrostatic-Confinement Fusion Apparatus

This paper reports the design and the testing results of a novel new electrostatic-confinement fusion apparatus. The apparatus has achieved a fusion triple product of 1.5 times 10¹⁹ s middot m^-3 middot keV, which was verified computationally and through direct testing. The apparatus is based on the fundamental concept of creating a plasma-confinement zone with a cross-sectional area that shrinks to nearly zero at one point, while accelerating the plasma to an energy of 100 keV within that zone. It is anticipated that further refinements to the technology will allow the new device to attain and exceed the performance of magnetic-confinement machines in the near future. Characterized by a small size, the new device will be ideal for portable and small-scale energy-generation applications once the break-even conditions are reached.