Applications of the dense plasma focus to nuclear fusion and plasma astrophysics

This paper investigates the dense plasma focus (DPF) for applications to nuclear fusion processes in reactors and in astrophysical plasmas. The scaling derived from experiments suggests a DPF of 100 MJ could reach break-even in a reactor and provides parameter space information for astrophysical problems. The cost and technological problems associated with this achievement are analyzed and environmental concerns discussed. The results, as applied to several fields of science and technology and space plasma physics, are presented.