The Observation Of Plasma Behavior In A Magnetic Thrust Chamber For Laser Fusion Rocket

Laser Fusion Rocket(LFR)is a spaceship utilizing an extravagant amount of nuclear fusion energy and controlling fusion plasma with an external magnetic field.LFR has a potential to produce large thrust and high specific impulse simultaneously,so that it is expected as a rocket of interplanetary missions.In interplanetary missions,long duration of the exposure of cosmic ray and living in an enclosed space deteriorate both physical and mental health of astronauts,and reducing mission period is indispensable.LFR is expected to solve this issue because of its potential to generate large thrust.In addition,the thruster can control the exhaust mass and velocity with wide range so that it enables an optimal design of the thruster depending on missions.In this paper,such a thruster is called “Magnetic Thrust Chamber”.The mechanism of thrust generation in a magnetic thrust chamber is shown as follows.At first,Laser irradiates the target and generates plasma.At second,the plasma induces a diamagnetic current to sweep aside the magnetic field and magnetic field is compressed.The compressed magnetic field pushes back the plasma and the spaceship obtains the thrust as a reaction force.In previous researches,a magnetic thrust chamber has been studied with numerical simulations and laser experiments.However,the plasma behavior in a magnetic thrust chamber hasn’t been observed experimentally yet,so we examine the plasma structure in a magnetic thrust chamber by observing the light emission of a laser-produced plasma with several magnetic field strength and electron density with several magnetic field.