Fusion Research

While the majority of fusion energy research is focused on magnetic confinement, there have been several alternative confinement methods aimed at the development of smaller and less expensive reactors. A number of these alternative reactors are based on a spherically convergent beam of recirculating ions and include designs such as inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC), multi-grid IEC, and the periodically oscillating plasma sphere (POPS) concept. Our work involves a combination of techniques to improve the level of neutron emission from the fusion reactor in our lab at Portland State University.