A Review of Experimental Progress in the MAGO/MTF Thermonuclear Program

• Published in: IEEE transactions on plasma science 2016-03, Vol.44 (3), p.250-267
• Main Authors: Chernychev, Vladimir K., Korchagin, Victor P., Babich, Leonid P., Burenkov, Oleg M., Dolin, Yurii N., Dudai, Pavel V., Dudin, Vladimir I., Ivanov, Vitalii A., Ivanovskii, Andrei V., Karpov, Gennadii V., Kraev, Andrei I., Kudel'kin, Valerii B., Kutsyk, Igor M., Mamyshev, Valentin I., Morozov, Ivan V., Pak, Semen V., Polyushko, Sergei M., Shaidullin, Vazyh Sh, Skobelev, Aleksandr N., Tokarev, Vladimir A., Volkov, Aleksndr A., Volkov, Gennadii I.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceleration; Compression; Discharges (electric); Electrodes; Experiments; explosion products; explosive magnetic generator (EMG); Insulators; magnitnoe obzhatie (MAGO)/magnetized target fusion (MTF); Neutrons; Nozzle geometry; Plasma physics; Plasma temperature; soft X-rays; Surface discharges; thermonuclear ignition
• ISSN: 0093-3813; 1939-9375
• DOI: 10.1109/TPS.2016.2524211

Magnitnoe Obzhatie (MAGO)/magnetized target fusion (MTF) thermonuclear experiments executed with a goal of producing the target plasma heated up to temperatures of hundreds of electronvolts, intended for subsequent compression by an imploding liner accelerated by explosion products, are reviewed. In MAGO/MTF experiments, plasma chambers were used consisting of two or three compartments connected by narrow nozzles: acceleration cylinder compartment and deceleration/fusion compartments (cylindrical or hemispherical). A technology of plasma chamber laboratory conditioning is described. Neutron and soft X-ray pulses are presented and obtained in experiments with chambers powered by an explosive magnetic generator. Irrespective of the chamber geometry and number of compartments, the X-ray pulse consists of a highly intensive peak with a duration of 1μs and more than a 10-μs-long low-intensity tail. The neutron pulse is time coincident with the X-ray peak. Yields up to 10 13 neutrons were detected in experiments with two-compartment chambers. Three-compartment chambers with an intermediate compartment are believed to be more promising for the compression. The results are described of the latter MAGO-IX experiment, the only successful experiment with the three-compartment chamber, in which the yield of 2 × 10 12 neutrons was detected in the third compartment and the yield in the middle compartment was many times lower.