Tri-alpha Energy has a patent – Controlled fusion in a field reversed configuration and direct energy conversion.
The 11B (p,α)αα reaction
* When 675 keV protons strike 11B, a resonance in 12C is formed at 16.6 MeV having a width of 300 keV.
* This resonance decays by emitting a primary α−particle, leading to the first excited state of 8Be which is 3 MeV above the ground state. This state decays into two secondary α-particles. σ(α1) = 600 mb!
* The state-of-the-art understanding of this reaction came from a 1987 study which “proved” that the reaction yielded one high energy primary α-particle, and two low energy secondary ones.
Our discovery of TWO high energy α-particles is having a huge impact on the reactor design. They are much easier to extract and convert more efficiently into electricity.
ABSTRACT – Field reversed configurations (FRCs) with high confinement are obtained in the C-2 device by combining plasma gun edge biasing and neutral beam injection. The plasma gun creates an inward radial electric field that counters the usual FRC spin-up. The n=2 rotational instability is stabilized without applying quadrupole magnetic fields. The FRCs are nearly axisymmetric, which enables fast ion confinement. The plasma gun also produces E×B shear in the FRC edge layer, which may explain the observed improved particle transport. The FRC confinement times are improved by factors 2 to 4, and the plasma lifetimes are extended from 1 to up to 4 ms.