New Type of Accelerator for Heavy Ions

A new device, called the heavy ion plasma accelerator (HIPAC), which may be capable of accelerating ions of any atomic number to energies sufficient to overcome the nuclear Coulomb barrier, is described. A closed potential well is created by filling a toroidal vacuum chamber with electrons; the electrons are contained by a magnetic field whose intensity is so low that its effect on the ions can be neglected. Ions are both accelerated and trappend in the well; the trapping effect allows sufficient time for the ions to become highly stripped by electron impact. The very large ion energies that can be achieved in this way would allow a wide variety of nuclear reactions to be studied, including inverse fission. The present primitive state of development of the HIPAC is described, and the future prospects assessed.