Perhapsatron, Early Fusion Power Device

The Perhapsatron was an early fusion power device based on the pinch concept in the 1950s. In a pinch device, the required magnetic field was created by the plasma itself. Since the plasma is electrically conductive, if one were to run a current through the plasma, it would create an induced magnetic field. This field, through the Lorentz force, will act to compress the conductor. In the case of a plasma, the force would collapse it into a thin filament, pinching it down. Since the current had to be very large, pinch devices made no attempt to confine the plasmas for extended periods. They would attempt to reach fusion conditions quickly and then extract power from the resulting hot products. Dreamt up by James Tuck while working at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), he named the device whimsically on the off chance that it might be able to create fusion reactions. The first example was built in the winter of 1952-53, and it quickly demonstrated a series of instabilities in the plasma that plagued the pinch concept. A series of modifications followed which attempted to correct these problems, leading to the ultimate S-4 model. However, none of these proved fruitful. NOTE: the man is not identified

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Alamos Fusion Instability Lanl Magnetic Pinch Plasma Technician Tuck

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