Microwave Enhancement of Inertial Electrostatic Confinement of Plasmas for Fusion: theory and Experiment

Dr. John E. Brandenburg Friday, January 27, 2006
1:30PM - 3:00PM in ENG II - room 102

Abstract


IEC (Inertial Electrostatic Confinement) of plasmas is a method for achieving table-top thermonuclear fusion at low cost. However, attempts to increase fusion power return have been hindered by high voltage effects on the grids. Recent experiments at 2.45GHz have indicated that spherical IEC plasmas can be compressed by HPM (High Power Microwaves) in a technique called MEIEC ( Microwave Enhanced Inertial Electrostatic Confinement). This technique may allow IEC to become a useful technology for producing nuetrons and medical isotopes. In MEIEC an IEC plasma is formed and confined in a hollow porous geodesic cathode. Theory of IEC, using a form of the viral theorem, is modified to include the .Pondermotive Force.of microwaves on a plasma, with the result that microwave field energy density is found to contribute to electrostatic energy density in the viral expression for plasma pressure confinement. Thus, in this theory, microwaves can enhance, or even replace to a degree, the electrostatic fields used to confine the plasma. In a low cost experiment, the plasmas were created and initially heated and confined by IEC in a geodesic porous cathode and then irradiated with microwaves. Preliminary results of this experiment appear to support the theory of MEIEC and suggest that further experiments may prove fruitful.

Short Bio


John E. Brandenburg is a visiting professor researcher at (FSI) Florida Space Institute having come from The Aerospace Corporation. At FSI one of his duties is as principle investigator of the MET (Microwave Electro-Thermal) propulsion project performed under a grant from Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration. He has focused his career on plasma physics and its applications to space and energy problems. He has, in addition to being involved in several Mars mission planning activities, published several papers on past Mars climate and possible biology. He also performed research on Fusion Propulsion and Kaluza-Klein theory of Field Unification for purposes of space propulsion. Before coming to Aerospace Corporation Dr. Brandenburg was a researcher at Research Support Instruments (RSI) where he specialized in making controlled laboratory plasmas for uses ranging from Fusion research to the MET thruster. He also worked as an independent consultant on Space Missile Defense, Directed Energy Weapons, and space rocket plume phenomenology, and also at Mission Research Corporation and Sandia National Laboratories on plasmas for controlled fusion and similar topics.

Doctor Brandenburg was born in Rouchester Minnesota but grew up in Medford Oregon. He obtained a BA in Physics from Southern Oregon University in Ashland Oregon, home of the Shakespearean Festival. He obtained his MS in Applied Science at University of California at Davis and his PhD in Theoretical Plasma Physics at the UC Davis extension campus at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore California. The Title of his Thesis was .A Theoretical Model of a Reversed Field Ion Layer Made of Monoenergetic Ions. and dealt with the magnetic confinement of plasmas for controlled nuclear fusion. Inspired by the Apollo missions to choose a career in Physics he has always been an avid fan of space exploration and science fiction. He is the author the .Dead Mars, Dying Earth. with Monica Rix Paxson , and, which dealt with the problems of energy and global warming. He has had published a space oriented science fiction novel .Morningstar Pass: The Collapse of the UFO Coverup. . under the pen name of Victor Norgarde.