On the Attainability of Fusion Temperatures under High Densities by Impact Shock Waves of Small Solid Particles Accelerated to Hypervelocities

Abstract

In this paper it is shown that temperatures up to 10⁸°K and under densities of the order 1 g/cm³ are attainable in liquid tritium-deuterium by the impact shock waves of small solid particles accelerated up to velocities of some 10⁷ cm/s in heavy particle accelerators. The high temperatures occur in a focussed particle beam. It is shown that under feasible conditions, the particle beam will generate in the target material a shock wave of the required strength. The particles are charged electrically up to the limit of mechanical breakup and then are accelerated in linear particle accelerators to the required velocities. In order to cut down losses by Bremsstrahlung radiation, the particles must consist of low Z-value material. The most promissing substances in this regard are lithium and beryllium. The "guillotine factor” is of significance at high densities and reduces the Bremsstrahlung losses by a factor of about 1/3. The attainable temperatures are high enough to reach the lowest ignition temperatures for thermonuclear reactions. Apart from the interesting prospect of high temperature, high density experiments, the possibility cannot be excluded to ignite by this method a small fusion explosion of controllable size.