A direct energy converter (DEC) designed for thermal ions escaping from a linear or near-linear device consists of a cusp magnetic field and decelerating electrodes. The electrons are deflected along the field lines and consequently separated from ions that are not fully magnetized. The ions are led to the decelerating electrodes to produce dc power. This type of DEC, the CUSPDEC, is applied to the GAMMA 10 tandem mirror in order to investigate the capability of separation of charged particles as well as to demonstrate energy conversion from ions. The separation of electrons and ions with energies of the order of kilo-electron Volt is achieved by using a slanted cusp magnetic field for the first time. It is also demonstrated that the separated ions are decelerated by the electric field in front of ion collectors and flow into the collectors at a high potential to produce electricity.
Magnetic electrostatic plasma confinement