PROPOSAL FOR A THERMONUCLEAR EXPERIMENT INVOLVING INJECTION OF MOLECULAR IONS AT 600 kev, DISSOCIATION BY MULTIPLE PASSES THROUGH AN ARC, AND EXPONENTIATION UPON THE RESULTING TRAPPED ATOMIC ION POPULATION

A quantitative projection of the results obtained with DCX shows that build-up beyond present plasma densities can probably be accomplished by using multiple passes of an injected molecular ionic beam through a dissociative arc instead of the single pass that is used at present. An experiment along these lines is proposed, the objective being to determine the extent to which a 300-kev H/sup +/ plasma can be built up in density beyond the present range of 10/sup 9/- 10/sup 10/H/sup +/ particles per cm/sup 3/. An investigation of experimental parameters is presented, which includes a survey of the magnetic-field requirements, an estimate of the injected H/sup +//sub 2/ beam currents needed and a discussion of their practical realization, a discussion of the vacuum pumping situation, and a treatment of demands on the ion source and beam injection systems to yield a beam of acceptable quality. It is concluded that the experiment is within technical reach, and the construction of a powerful and versatile apparatus is proposed. As a minimum, such an apparatus would permit a study of the successive factors that may emerge to limit the accumulation of a 300-kev steady-state hydrogen plasma to densities of thermonuclear interest. (auth)