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An apparatus and method for controlling charged particles. The charged particles comprise electrons and positive ions. A magnetic field having only point cusps is used to confine injected electrons and so to generate a negative potential well. Positive ions injected into the negative potential well

An apparatus and method for controlling charged particles. The charged particles comprise electrons and positive ions. A magnetic field having only point cusps is used to confine injected electrons and so to generate a negative potential well. Positive ions injected into the negative potential well are trapped therein. The preferred means for generating the magnetic field is current-carrying elements arranged at positions corresponding to the edges of any of several truncated regular polyhedrons.

대표청구항 ▼

A method of confining positively charged particles comprising the steps of: (a) generating a magnetic field within a region wherein all the cusps of said magnetic field are point cusps; (b) injecting electrons within said region and using said generated magnetic field to confine electrons within sai

A method of confining positively charged particles comprising the steps of: (a) generating a magnetic field within a region wherein all the cusps of said magnetic field are point cusps; (b) injecting electrons within said region and using said generated magnetic field to confine electrons within said region and so to generate a negative potential well; and (c) injecting positively charged particles within said region and using said negative potential well to confine said positively charged particles within said region; and (d) maintaining the number of electrons greater than the number of positively charged particles; wherein said step (a) further comprises generating a surface cusp magnetic field having edge contours corresponding to a superposition of at least two truncated polyhedra. A device for producing collisional reactions comprising: (a) means for generating a magnetic field within a region, said means including magnetic field coils positioned on edges of a structure forming a polyhedral figure, each vertex of which is surrounded by an even number of faces, said field coils carrying currents such that adjacent faces of said polyhedral figure having opposing magnetic polarities, (b) means for injecting electrons within said region, said electrons having gyro radii effectively smaller than the radius of said region such that said electrons are trapped within said region by said magnetic field, said trapped electrons forming a negative potential well within a volum of said region; (c) means for injecting positively charged ions within said region, said ions having gyro radii effectively larger than a radius of said region, such that said positively charged ions are not trapped within said region by said magnetic field, said positively charged ions confined within said region by electric potential gradient forces resulting from said negative potential well, the number of electrons within said region maintained larger than the number of said positively charged ions, and said positively charged ions having energies sufficiently great within said region to produce collisional reactions.