Plasma channels for intense-light-ion-beam reactors

Numerical calculations are presented which study the use of current-carrying plasma channels in gas-filled (argon) reactor chambers for intense-light-ion-beam inertial fusion. A 1-D MHD model is used to compute the channel behaviour on both channel formation and beam injection time scales. A two-stage drive sequence is proposed to create a low-density channel which would contain sufficient discharge current to confine the injected ion beam. Collisional and Ohmic losses are evaluated for a particular proposed reactor concept. These losses would degrade the beam energy by about 30% for a 4-m-radius reactor filled with 10 torr of argon, an efficiency consistent with those assumed in the reactor study