The Farnsworth/Hirsch Fusor
The Fusor is a vaccum chamber device invented by Philo T. Farnsworth
in the 1950's. An acceleration voltage (several kV) and the
geometry of the electrodes cause so-called ion multipacting,
and in this case concentration of accelerated ions in a small focus. This is
called Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC). Using
deuterium gas and high
vaccum and acceleration voltage, energy in this focus
becomes high enough to make fusion possible, resulting in a measurable
flux of neutrons. The system is currently being
(re-)examined by George Miley of the Univ. of Illonois. Have a look at
other links, too.
The following texts were posted to the HV list by Richard Hull in
oct - dec 1997. The picture shows the inner grid region of his working
fusor (though not yet "fusing").
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Jochen
Kronjaeger
Kronjaeg@stud-mailer.uni-marburg.de