The Magnetic Mirror

A linear trap that reflects charged particles between regions of strong field.

Type

Linear confinement

Burner plug field

26.49 T

A magnetic mirror confines plasma in a straight field that is stronger at its ends than its middle; particles are reflected back toward the centre. Simple mirrors leak from the ends, which the tandem mirror fixes with electrostatic plugs.

The Kronos burner is a tandem mirror with high-field plugs reaching 26.49 T.

The magnetic mirror is the simplest confinement idea — a straight field stronger at its ends — but simple mirrors leak through the loss cone. Decades of physics (minimum-B stabilisation, the tandem plug, thermal barriers) fixed the leaks, and modern high-field superconductors make the required plug fields attainable, which is what revived the concept for the Kronos burner.