Investigation of Proton-Boron-11 degenerate fuel pellet ignition in the magneto-inertial fusion process

Abstract

Magneto-inertial fusion (MIF) is a hybrid that combines magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) with inertial confinement fusion (ICF), and has gained significant interest in recent years. In this research, the ignition conditions and energy gain of Proton-Boron-11(P-¹¹B) degenerate fuel were investigated in the magneto-inertial fusion process. The degeneracy parameter effect on the fusion power, loss powers and energy gain were examined by solving the energy balance equation. The results indicate that increasing the degeneracy parameter leads to higher fusion power, while reducing Bremsstrahlung and Cyclotron radiation power. It has been found that the ignition of Proton-Boron-11 fuel conditions do not occur for magnetic field strengths less than $B = 10^{6} T$. The obtained results also suggest that applying a magnetic field strength of B = 10⁸ T leads to a reduction in loss power, higher energy gain and accessible ignition conditions for the Proton-Boron-11 (p-¹¹B) degenerate fuel pellet with confinement parameter ρR = 1 $\frac{{\text{g}}}{{{\text{cm}}^{2} }}$.