Losses of a thermonuclear plasma imploded by a high-velocity wall

Energy losses occurring in high-temperature plasma in contact with a rapidly moving wall are studied. It is found that thermal-conduction and radiation losses prevent reaching thermonuclear temperatures unless the wall moves at a very high speed. On the other hand, re-absorption in high-density systems and relatively weak magnetic fields reduce these losses. A thermonuclear regime can be reached with wall velocities of 25 km/s, attainable by electromagnetic techniques.