High‐Velocity Projectile‐Stabilized z‐Pinch

A high current z‐pinch can be stabilized by a thin long projectile accelerated to a few km/sec, if the projectile is shot through the core of the pinch. Furthermore, as a result of the thermomagnetic Nernst effect both the heat conduction and radiation losses at thermonuclear temperatures are sufficiently small. The stabilized pinch configuration can therefore be used for the controlled release of large amounts of thermonuclear energy from a dense plasma. The needed projectile velocity of a few km/sec can be already reached with chemical propulsion.