Use of Strong Relativistic Electron Rings for the Confinement of Thermonuclear Plasmas

Various schemes proposed for the confinement of thermonuclear plasmas are reviewed in which it may be possible to generate and maintain the necessary plasma-internal ring currents by strong self-focussed rings of relativistic electrons or protons. Thus, confinement advantages inherent in some of these schemes may become available for an actual fusion reactor. The results of first experiments injecting very-high current beams of relativistic electrons into a magnetic mirror trap show that such electron rings can be generated and give good indications for their stability.