June 18, 1963

A. J. GALE
APPARATUS FOR CARRYING ON NUCLEAR REACTIONS

Filed Nov. 22. 1960

3,094,474

3,694,474
Fatente'd June 18, 1963

3,094,474

mechanical arts, and is therefore not shown in the draw

ing nor described herein in detail. Within the reaction
chamber 3 each pellet 1 is bombarded by an ion pulse
6 from each accelerator 4.

APPARATUS FOR CARRYlNG on NUCLEAR

nEAerroNs
7 Alfred J. Gale, Lexington, Mass, assigpor to High Volt

age Engineering Corporation, Burlington, Mass, a cor

poratron of Massachusetts

Filed Nov. 22, 196i), Ser. No. 71,379

2 Claims. (Cl. 2ti4193.2)

en

If the material is in liquid form, the pellet-forming

mechanism 2 may be modi?ed as shown in FIG. 2. The
liquid material 7 is fed into the chamber 3 through a suit

able capillary tube 3, by which the liquid 7 is formed into

drops or pellets 1. The vapor pressure above the liquid
This application is a continuation-in-part of my co 10 material 7 may be varied by an appropriate mechanism,
such as the piston 9, and in this manner the rate of
pending application Serial No. 625,679, ?led Decem
?ow of the liquid through the capillary tube 8 may be
ber 3, 1956, now abandoned.
controlled. The size of each pellet 1 is determined by
This invention relates to the production of nuclear re
the diameter and shape of the opening 10 at the bottom
actions by the bombardment of materials with high energy
ions. One of the goals of modern science has been the 15 of the capillary tube 8.
fusion of nuclei. This invention relates to apparatus for
research with a goal of obtaining fusion.
In accordance with the invention, a sequence of pellets

Referring now to FIG. 3, let it be assumed that the

radius of each pellet 1 is l millimeter. In order that the

high-temperature part of the pellet 1 may be surrounded

by a cold shell, the diameter of the ion beam or beams

of material is bombarded with a high energy ion beam
for a very short interval of time with an extremely high 20 must be substantially less than the diameter of the pellets
1, and in FIG. 3 the ion beam diameter is shown as .2
current. The pellets are in liquid or solid form, and
millimeter. If the acceleration due to gravity be taken
the bombardment is very intense and very short, so that

as approximately 103 cm./sec.2, and if it be assumed that

evaporation and resultant expansion of the pellets are
the pellet-forming mechanism 2 is spaced no more than
minimized, while the temperature thereof is raised ex
tremely rapidly. Moreover, the size of the pellets is so 25 5 meters from the target zone of the reaction chamber
3, then the velocity of the pellet at the target zone will
chosen with respect to the energy of the ions that most
not exceed 103 cm./sec. If the duration of each ion
of the ion energy is delivered to the interior of the pellets,
pulse 6 is 10'8 seconds, then the displacement of each
thereby minimizing losses by causing the high-temperature
pellet 1 during bombardment will not exceed 10*5 cm.
part of the mass to be surrounded by a cold outer shell.
Since the ion beam diameter is .2 millimeter, the pellets
The invention may best be understood from the follow
1 are virtually stationary during bombardment thereof.
ing detailed description thereof, having reference to the
Representative nuclear reactions are the T-D reaction,
accompanying drawings, in which:
the Li6=d reaction, and the D-D reaction. The reactions
FIG. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic view, mainly in
available for thermonuclear purposes are well-known in
vertical section, of one embodiment of the invention,
wherein a sequence of pellets of material is bombarded 35 the art and need not be discussed herein in any detail.
Merely for illustrative purposes, and without limiting
with a plurality of high energy ion beams;
the invention thereto, the operation of the invention will
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view in vertical section of
now be described in terms of the T-D reaction.
a modi?cation of a portion of the apparatus shown in
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, it will be observed that
FIG. 1, and shows another type of pellet-feeding mecha
40 by far the greatest concentration of ions occurs Within
nism; and
a sphere 11 whose radius is .1 millimeter. It can be shown
FIG. 3 is a diagram of a single pellet.
that, in order to maintain a thermonuclear chain re
Referring to the drawings and ?rst to FIG. 1 thereof,
action in a pellet of deuterium having a radius of .1
material is formed into pellets 1 by a suitable pellet
millimeter (i.e. a pellet the size of the core 11 of the
forming mechanism 2, and the resultant pellets 1 are
fed in any convenient manner, as by gravity, into a re 45 pellet of FIG. 3), it must be held at 7.5 million de
grees centigrade; or, in other words, each particle in
action chamber 3. Within the reaction chamber 3 the
the pellet must have an energy of about 750 electron
the pellets are bombarded by ions which have been ac
volts. This energy or temperature represents a very rapid
celerated to high energy by one or more particle lac
evaporation. The pellet must therefore acquire this tem
celerators 4. In order to obtain maximum ion current,
perature very rapidly, before signi?cant evaporation takes
it is desirable to bombard each pellet simultaneously with
place. The velocity of particles at several million de
the ion output of a plurality of ion accelerators 4-, and
grees approximates 107 cm./sec., so that the delivery
the ion output of each accelerator 41 is preferably pulsed
of energy to the pellet in order to raise its temperature
so that ion pulses are delivered to the reaction chamber
should preferably be delivered in 10'8 seconds or less.
3 in synchronism with the delivery of pellets thereto.
Therefore, in accordance with the invention, each ion
If in the solid state, the material may be in wire form,
pulse should have a duration of 10'8 seconds or less.
as shown at 5, and the pellet-forming mechanism 2 may
Assuming that the number of atoms N in said .l~milli
comprise a simple cutting device into which the wire 5
meter-radius sphere is 1.8><lt)17, the energy which must
is fed continuously by a suitable feeding mechanism. The
be supplied to this sphere to raise its temperature to the
repetition rate of the cutting device determines the spac
necessary 7.5 million degrees, at 750 electron volts per
ing between pellets 1, which are allowed to fall freely
particle, is 1.3><102 e.v. If this energy is supplied by
into the reaction chamber 3, and the rate of feed of the
a stream of particles with an energy loss approximating
feeding mechanism determines the size of each pellet
10 m.e.v. in passing through the .1-mm.-radius sphere,
1. The construction of such a cutting device and feed

ing mechanism will be obvious to those skilled in the

which corresponds roughly to alpha particles, the number

3,094,474:
3

of bombarding particles required is 1.3x 1013.

Since

these particles should be delivered in 10"8 seconds or less,

the ion current required is at least 200 amperes, and the
current density is 2 million amperes per square centi

meter. Space charge limitations therefore point to the need

for using high energy particles.
_

Under the foregoing circumstances, in which liquid

4
structure 16. The pellet-forming mechanism 2, the pulse
generators 15, the ion-de?ectors 12, and any pulsing sys
tem in each particle accelerator 4 must, 0:6 course, be syn
chronized so that the ion pulses 6 and the pellets l collide.

The literature citations of Physical Methods in Chemical

Analysis, volume III, by Taylor and Havens, pages 470~

473, and Annual Review of Nuclear Science, volume 4,

'by Berkerley, pages 101-109, describe time-of-?igh-t ve
and having a radius of .1 millimeter are bombarded
locity selectors for pulsed accelerators and nuclear parti
with l0-m.e.v. alpha particles, it might be expected that, 10 cle coincidence techniques which, in combination illus
if the reaction rate were extremely fast, a large pro
trate the nature of the components and circuitry required
portion of the available fusion energy would be gained.
for such synchronization. However, such synchroniza
The Q of the T-D reaction is about 17 m.e.v., so that
tion may be achieved by means well within the capabil
the total energy available is 2.4><105 joules. Thus from
ities of those skilled in the electronic arts and such means
pellets of a suitable mixture of tritium and deuterium

an input of 20 joules (200 amperes at 10 mev. for 15 are therefore not described herein. For example, each
108 sec.) a gain in excess of 104 might be obtained.
pellet 1 could be caused to fall between a light source
7 Each particle accelerator 4 should be designed so 'as to
(not shown) and a photocell (not shown) so as to gen

provide maximum current output. Thus, for example,

erate a signal which could be used to trigger the pellet

each particle accelerator 4 may comprise an electrostatic
forming mechanism.
accelerator adapted to provide a high-current pulsed out 20
While each particle accelerator 4 may be of any of
put in accordance with the teachings of a copending
several well-known types, I prefer to use electrostatic

application assigned to the assignee of the present inven

tion, Serial Number 431,439, ?led May 21, 1954, now

accelerators, which produce a monoenergetic ion beam.

Of course, unless a device such as that disclosed in the

Patent No. 2,847,611, dated August 12, 1958. In any

aforesaid copending applications is used, a pulsed electro
event, the high-energy ion beam from each particle ac 25 static accelerator Will produce pulses in which the energy
celerator is de?ected in the plane of the drawing by an ion
falls lineally in time during the pulse; however, the ion
de?ector 12, which may comprise, for example, a pair of
output is otherwise monoenergetic, and this linear de
de?ector plate-s perpendicular to the plane of the drawing
crease in energy during each pulse may be compensated
across which a radio-?requency electric ?eld is impressed
by appropriate control of the magnet 13. For example,
and between which the high-energy ions travel. The ion
if each pulse-length is equal to the half-cycle of the ion
de?ector 12 is thus adapted to subject the ion beam to a
de?ector 12, each pulse of the particle accelerator 4 will
de?ecting ?eld which varies cyclically in time; and if the
produce one segment 6 of ions whose energy varies valong
de?ecting ?eld is adapted to increase lineally in time and
the length thereof, and such energy variation may be
decrease virtually instantaneously, as in the case in the
compensated for merely by appropriate shaping and spac
horizontal sweep of the electron beam of a conventional
ing of the pole faces of the magnet 13.
television receiver, the ion beam will be broken up into
Having thus described the method of the invention,
segments 6 as shown in FIG. 1. If now these segments 6
together with illustrative embodiments of apparatus for
are caused to traverse a magnetic ?eld, such as. that pro

duced by the magnet 13, all the ions in each segment 6

will follow a circular path while in the magnetic ?eld.
The pole faces of the magnet 13 are so shaped, however,
that the outermost ions remain in the magnetic ?eld for
a longer period than the innermost ions, so that all ions
tend to converge laterally towards the same place. More
over, the outermost ions are also ahead of the innermost
ions in the same segment; and, since the outermost ions

follow a longer path than the innermost ions, the inner

most ions catch up to the outermost ions, so that all ions

in each segment 6 tend to converge longitudinally (i.e.

along the beam axis). As a result, each segment 16 is
compressed into a compact ion pulse. This method of

form-ing ion pulses is fully described by R. C. Mobley in

an article entitled Proposed Method for Producing Short

Intense Monoenergetic Ion Pulses, Physical Review, vol

ume 88, page 360 (1952) and need not be described
herein in any further detail.
The construction of a particle accelerator 4 having a

pulsed output providing 10_G-second pulses of 2 amperes

is feasible :at the present time, and the combination of the
ion de?ector 12 and the magnet 13 can convert each

Z-ampere 1O6second pulse into a ZOO-ampere 108-sec

0nd pulse.

In order to achieve a current density of 2

carrying out the method, it is to be understood that

although speci?c terms are employed they are used in a
generic and descriptive sense and not for purposes or"

limitation, the scope of the invention being set forth in

the following claims.
I claim:
1. Apparatus for carrying on nuclear reactions compris
ing in combination at least one ion accelerator adapted
to produce a beam of high-energy ions; an ion de?ector

adapted to de?ect said ion beam periodically, whereby

said ion beam is divided into linear segments each of
which is at an angle to the direction of travel of the ions
therein; a magnet adapted to subject said segments to the
de?ecting action of a magnetic ?eld so distributed in space
that the ions in each segment converge both laterally and
longitudinally so as to form an ion pulse; means for sub

jecting said ion pulses to the pinching action of an intense

magnetic ?eld; a pellet-forming device adapted to form
exoergi'c material into pellets; and means for causing said
pellets to collide in free space with said pinched ion
pulses, wherein the transverse diameter of said pulses is
su?iciently small with respect to the diameter of said
pellets so that a substantial portion of the energy of the
ions in each pulse is absorbed by the central portion of
the rvolume of the pellet which is struck by said (pulse.
2. Apparatus for carrying on nuclear reactions compris
ing in combination at least one ion accelerator adapted to
produce a beam, of high-energy ions; an ion de?ector
adapted to de?ect said ion beam periodically, whereby
said ion beam is divided into linear segments each of

millon amperes per square centimeter, each ZOO-ampere

pulse must be compressed laterally into an area of 10-4
square centimeters. In accordance With the invention,
this is accomplished by means of the so-called pinch
effect, which is produced by subjecting the ion pulses 6
to the action of a very intense magnetic ?eld, of the order
which is at an angle to the direction of travel of the ions
of 106 gauss. Such a magnetic ?eld is produced by :a coil
therein; a magnet adapted to subject said segments to the
14 which surrounds the ion trajectory and through which 70 de?ecting action of a magnetic ?eld so distributed in space
a very high current is driven by a suitable pulse gener
that the ions in each segment converge both laterally and
ator 15.
Of course, the ions must travel in vacuo, and so the

evacuated region of each particle accelerator 4 is con

nected to the reaction chamber 3 by a suitable evacuated

longitudinally so as to form an ion pulse; a coil supported

so that said ion pulses travel axially therethrough; a pulse

generator adapted to generate a large electric current in

said coil while ion pulses are traveling therethrough,

3,094,474
whereby said ion pulses are pinched; a pellet-forming

device adapted to form exoergic material into pellets; and

means for causing said pellets to collide in free space
with said pinched ion pulses, wherein the transverse diam
eter at said pulses is su?icient'ly small with respect to the
diameter of said pellets so that a substantial portion of the
energy of the ions in each pulse is absonbed by the central
portion of the volume of the pellet which is struck by said

pulse.

References Cited in the ?le of this patent

UNITED STATES PATENTS

2,161,985
2,251,190
2,429,217
2,500,223
2,626,359
2,837,654
2,868,987

Szilard _______________ _.. June 13, 1939

Kallman ______________ __ July 29, 1941
Brasch _______________ __ Oct. 21, 1947

Wells et a1 ____________ __ Mar. 14, 1950

Weber ________________ __ Ian. 30, 1953

Berghaus et a1 __________ __ June 3, 1958

Salsig et a1 _____________ .._. Ian. 13, 1959