I know in ICF fusion, generally lasers are used to generate X-rays inside a holhraum to compress a duetirium tritium fuel pellet until it generates fusion reactions. I was wondering if the same process could work if the fuel was in a gaseous form, or even better, already a plasma like one inside a tokamak. I wonder if this X rays compression could potentially act like a more intense version of magnetic compression that plasma in tokamaks go through.
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2$\begingroup$ Well, yes, it can compress gas/plasma. However, starting with an already-condensed phase means you have more fuel in the volume the x-rays impact, and have put the work into compressing it to a certain point already. $\endgroup$– Jon CusterCommented May 15 at 12:53
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1$\begingroup$ Directly using magnetic confinement is more efficient than trying to use photons like x-rays because the latter have an interaction cross-section that has a heavy energy dependence in it. All charged particles, regardless of energy, know the Lorentz force ;) $\endgroup$– honeste_vivereCommented May 15 at 13:30
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Confinement of plasma using photons has been considered on several occasions from the earliest days of the fusion program.
I know it was a consideration at the very start in the UK, using RF to create "plugs" at the end of linear pinch systems, and later to perform a similar role in linear magnetic mirrors. The idea is that you beam high-energy RF, not X-rays, and try to push the ions back the way they came.
Invariably, the efficiency of the confinement is bettered by newer magnetic systems, although in the case of mirrors, they also added several other systems in an ultimately futile attempt to plug the leaks.
answered May 16 at 14:14