The Burner's End Cell
The plug-and-expander assembly that confines the plasma and recovers its energy.
- Plug field
- 26.49 T
- Recovers
- End-loss energy
Each end of the burner holds a high-field plug (26.49 T), the ambipolar potential it builds, and an expander feeding the direct converter. The end cell is where the burner's hardest physics — plugging — and its cleverest engineering — direct conversion — live.
It is the technical heart of the tandem mirror.
Common questions
The high-field plug and mirror-throat region at each end that confines the central plasma, plus the expander where escaping particles are spread out and their energy recovered. It is where the plug physics lives.
Because the ambipolar plug it creates is what holds the plasma in — and its effectiveness depends on the ~16 plug-density ratio, the burner's binding condition.