The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 26, 1988
Filed:
Oct. 24, 1986
Richard A McCorkle, South Salem, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An intense electrical discharge along the axis of a capillary having condensed phase (liquid or solid) walls produces a controlled transient plasma temperature of 10 million degrees Kelvin or more. In order to reach such a temperature, the capillary is formed with a suitably small diameter and a sufficiently large aspect ratio and the electrical discharge must have a suitably short risetime and a sufficient high intensity. In the preferred embodiment, the capillary walls comprise thermonuclear fusible material, the plasma temperature reaches at least 60 million degrees Kelvin, and the density-time product is sufficient to produce a useful thermonuclear fusion reaction. The ultra-high temperature capillary discharge can be used as a pulsed source of nuclear and/or x-ray radiation or as a pulsed nuclear fusion reactor.