Systems and methods are provided that facilitate forming and maintaining FRCs with superior stability as well as particle, energy and flux confinement and, more particularly, systems and methods that facilitate forming and maintaining FRCs with elevated system energies and improved sustainment utilizing neutral beam injectors with tunable beam energy capabilities.

Systems and methods utilizing successive, axially symmetric acceleration and adiabatic compression stages to heat and accelerate two compact tori towards each other and ultimately collide and compress the compact tori within a central chamber. Alternatively, systems and methods utilizing successive, axially asymmetric acceleration and adiabatic compression stages to heat and accelerate a first compact toroid towards and position within a central chamber and to heat and accelerate a second compact toroid towards the central chamber and ultimately collide and merge the first and second compact toroids and compress the compact merge tori within the central chamber.

Systems and methods that facilitate forming and maintaining FRCs with superior stability as well as particle, energy and flux confinement and, more particularly, systems and methods that facilitate forming and maintaining FRCs with elevated system energies and improved sustainment utilizing multi-scaled capture type vacuum pumping.

A high performance field reversed configuration (FRC) system includes a central confinement vessel, two diametrically opposed reversed-field-theta-pinch formation sections coupled to the vessel, and two divertor chambers coupled to the formation sections. A magnetic system includes quasi-dc coils axially positioned along the FRC system components, quasi-dc mirror coils between the confinement chamber and the formation sections, and mirror plugs between the formation sections and the divertors. The formation sections include modular pulsed power formation systems enabling static and dynamic formation and acceleration of the FRCs. The FRC system further includes neutral atom beam injectors, pellet injectors, gettering systems, axial plasma guns and flux surface biasing electrodes. The beam injectors are preferably angled toward the midplane of the chamber. In operation, FRC plasma parameters including plasma thermal energy, total particle numbers, radius and trapped magnetic flux, are sustainable at or about a constant value without decay during neutral beam injection.

A magnetic confinement system includes a magnetic mirror device that includes a chamber to hold a target plasma and a coil arrangement to generate a magnetic field configuration in the chamber to confine the target plasma in cylindrically-symmetric form in the chamber, the magnetic field configuration having open ends. The magnetic confinement system further includes plasma guns to generate plasma pistons and project the plasma pistons at the open ends of the magnetic field configuration. In operation, the plasma pistons converge towards each other to close the open ends of the magnetic field configuration and to compress and heat the target plasma.

A high performance field reversed configuration (FRC) system includes a central confinement vessel, two diametrically opposed reversed-field-theta-pinch formation sections coupled to the vessel, and two divertor chambers coupled to the formation sections. A magnetic system includes quasi-dc coils axially positioned along the FRC system components, quasi-dc mirror coils between the confinement chamber and the formation sections, and mirror plugs between the formation sections and the divertors. The formation sections include modular pulsed power formation systems enabling static and dynamic formation and acceleration of the FRCs. The FRC system further includes neutral atom beam injectors, pellet or CT injectors, gettering systems, axial plasma guns and flux surface biasing electrodes. The beam injectors are preferably angled toward the midplane of the chamber. In operation, FRC plasma parameters including plasma thermal energy, total particle numbers, radius and trapped magnetic flux, are sustainable at or about a constant value without decay during neutral beam injection.

Systems and methods that facilitate forming and maintaining FRCs with superior stability as well as particle, energy and flux confinement and, more particularly, systems and methods that facilitate forming and maintaining FRCs with elevated system energies and improved sustainment utilizing neutral beam injection and high harmonic fast wave electron heating.

According to some embodiments, a system for widening and densifying a scrape-off layer (SOL) in a field reversed configuration (FRC) fusion reactor is disclosed. The system includes a gas box at one end of the reactor including a gas inlet system and walls of suitable heat bearing materials. The system further includes an exit orifice adjoining the gas box, wherein the exit orifice has a controllable radius and length to allow plasma to flow out from the gas box to populate the SOL with the plasma. The system may also include fusion products, which decrease in speed in the plasma in the SOL, allowing energy to be extracted and converted into thrust or electrical power and further allowing ash to be extracted to reduce neutron emissions and maintain high, steady-state fusion power.

A toroidally confined plasma vessel with a substantially symmetric magnetically confined plasma region where a plurality of magnetic field coils are configured to provide at least one X-point, and to guide plasma particles from the magnetically confined region to the divertor target; and wherein the total magnetic field strength (comprising all components of the magnetic field) at the divertor target is lower than the total magnetic field strength (comprising all components of the magnetic field) of a position in the SOL between the divertor target and X-point on the last closed flux surface that is nearest to it. When the mean free path of the neutrals is longer than the width of the SOL, one can separate the two critical functions: a) withstanding high-heat flux, and b) pumping of plasma particles to maintain a low density.

Systems and methods that facilitate non-pertubative measurements of low and null magnetic field in high temperature plasmas.