Aussie Fusor
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guest
Aussie Fusor
I ran across this page while doing a web search for IEC sites: wwwrsphysse.anu.edu.au/~smc112/research. Not too much there, but it's some reseachers in Sydney investigating charge exchange reactions in a fusor-type setup. Investigating charge exchange reactions is important for understanding fusion in our regime, where a lot of the reactions take place between ions and background neutrals rather than real focused ion-ion collisions. The D-3He researchers at U of Wisconsion have a few things to say about this as well, and the combinations get interesting with two species having different ionization potentials.
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Richard Hull
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Re: Aussie Fusor
Interesting!
Lotsa' folks are using RF excitation and these guys are doing it outside of the outer grid pretty much and relying on the high potential gradients to do the rest. I like it. This is complicated by amateur standards, but doable.
Tom Ligon gave a nice 1 hour talk on the doppler broadening issue within the fusor at one of our Teslathons and had a nice 30 minute video he made of his results while working for Bussard. He used the H beta line of in blue for D2 though.
Some of you old boys on the list might remember this is how I got the inside dope on their activities, by taking fusor II up to their lab. Tom and I used it to work the broadening angle with their ocean optics computerized spectrophotometer.
These Aussie fellows are using H2. I wonder if they have even tried D2? They don't mention any fusion though.
Richard Hull
Lotsa' folks are using RF excitation and these guys are doing it outside of the outer grid pretty much and relying on the high potential gradients to do the rest. I like it. This is complicated by amateur standards, but doable.
Tom Ligon gave a nice 1 hour talk on the doppler broadening issue within the fusor at one of our Teslathons and had a nice 30 minute video he made of his results while working for Bussard. He used the H beta line of in blue for D2 though.
Some of you old boys on the list might remember this is how I got the inside dope on their activities, by taking fusor II up to their lab. Tom and I used it to work the broadening angle with their ocean optics computerized spectrophotometer.
These Aussie fellows are using H2. I wonder if they have even tried D2? They don't mention any fusion though.
Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Re: Aussie Fusor
Richard - the RF excitation you mention, this is to produce ions? H, D or whatever?
Dave Cooper
Dave Cooper
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Richard Hull
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- Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2001 9:44 am
- Real name: Richard Hull
Re: Aussie Fusor
Precisely. The RF excitation is rather common in many plasma devices used in science nowadays.
A natural form of bulk gas ionization for modern times. (creating deuterons)
Odd, but efficient filaments are often harder to work up in vacuum now than slapping on a free oven magnetron and getting the job done over a much larger volume. Also, with good design, the microwaves can be focused to do their work locally within a cavity.
Lotsa' opportunities for a guy with a Smith chart and a Gigahertz applications bent.
Richard Hull
A natural form of bulk gas ionization for modern times. (creating deuterons)
Odd, but efficient filaments are often harder to work up in vacuum now than slapping on a free oven magnetron and getting the job done over a much larger volume. Also, with good design, the microwaves can be focused to do their work locally within a cavity.
Lotsa' opportunities for a guy with a Smith chart and a Gigahertz applications bent.
Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Re: Aussie Fusor
If you're interested in this, the methodology is called ECRH (electron-cyclotron resonance heating). Excitation occurs through a process called ambipolar diffusion.
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guest
Re: Aussie Fusor
It also makes a nice rocket engine for near space too.
H+microwaves = plasma = thrust.
I still think the complex RF fusor needs more study
as it looks like a idea may work best.
The other problems with fusors is that they look to be
small energy sources (assuming fusion works ) several KilloWatts output. Most people interested want Megawatts
output. This is one other factor limiting reasurch.
Ben.
H+microwaves = plasma = thrust.
I still think the complex RF fusor needs more study
as it looks like a idea may work best.
The other problems with fusors is that they look to be
small energy sources (assuming fusion works ) several KilloWatts output. Most people interested want Megawatts
output. This is one other factor limiting reasurch.
Ben.