On the Inertial-Electrostatic Confinement of a Plasma

Abstract

A system in which electrons are projected radially inwards from a spherical surface, has been proposed for the confinement of a plasma at thermonuclear temperatures. The equilibrium, economics, and stability of such a system are discussed theoretically. Although we conclude that it is of doubtful utility as a thermonuclear reactor, it may be possible to produce in this way small regions of thermonuclear plasma for study. The device appears to be unstable at economic densities. The stability is discussed in terms of a virial, which turns out to be mathematically tractable in this geometry.