Power Amplification Conditions for Fusion-Reactor Plasmas Heated by Reacting Ion Beams

The plasma energy confinement time required to achieve a practically useful power amplification factor QE can be reduced substantially if the plasma is heated by an energetic ion beam that reacts with the bulk ions as it thermalizes. The contribution to QE arising from the beam-plasma fusion reactions can be maximized by maintaining the post-injection energy of the beam ions near an optimum value, for example, by means of slow magnetic compression.