The Levitated Dipole Experiment (LDX) is a project devoted to researching a nuclear fusion configuration which utilizes a floating superconducting torus to provide an axisymmetric magnetic field which is used to contain plasma. It is a collaboration between Columbia University's Department of Applied Physics and the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center and is funded by the Department of Energy's Office of Fusion Energy.
Unlike other types of magnetically confined fusion, the Levitated Dipole is designed to be robust to external fluctuations in electric/magnetic fields. In most laboratory plasmas, small fluctuations can cause significant energy loss; however in a dipolar magnetic field, fluctations tend to actually compress the plasma without energy loss. This compression effect was first noticed by Akira Hasegawa after participating in the Voyager 2 encounter with Uranus.
The LDX device employs a deuterium-deuterium (D-D) reaction, as opposed to the deuterium-tritium (D-T) reaction of other confinement and compression devices such as the tokamak, a torus (donut) shaped magnetic confinement vessel; or inertial confinement fusion (ICF) devices that amplify and focus multiple high-energy beams of lasers, electrons or ions onto tiny pellets of D-T fuel.
Although heat and pressure requirements for D-D fusion are more difficult than D-T fusion, the payoff of the D-D reaction is the relative absence of "fast neutrons" produced by the D-T reaction that contaminate the containment vessel and require massive shielding. In addition, deuterium is readily available in sea water--unlike tritium, which must be bred in reactors before it can be used as fuel in the D-T reaction.
References
- MIT tests unique approach to fusion power MIT News, David Chandler, MIT News Office, March 19, 2008. Accessed March 2008
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