%0 Conference Paper
%A Heidbrink, W. W.
%A Baylor, L. R.
%A Büscher, M.
%A Engels, R. W.
%A Garcia, A. V.
%A Ghiozzi, A. G.
%A Miller, G. W.
%A Sandorfi, A. M.
%A Wei, X.
%T A research program to measure the lifetime of spin polarized fuel
%J Proceedings of Science
%V 456
%I Sissa Medialab Trieste, Italy
%M FZJ-2024-05593
%P PoS(SPIN2023)107
%D 2024
%< Proceedings of 25th International Symposium on Spin Physics — PoS(SPIN2023) - Sissa Medialab Trieste, Italy, 2024. - ISBN - doi:10.22323/1.456.0107
%X The use of spin polarized fuel could increase the deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion cross section by a factor of 1.5 and, owing to alpha heating, increase the fusion power by an even larger factor.Issues associated with the use of polarized fuel in a reactor are identified.Theoretically, nuclei remain polarized in a hot fusion plasma. The similarity between the Lorentz force law and the Bloch equations suggests polarization can be preserved despite the rich electromagnetic spectrum present in a magnetic fusion device. The most important depolarization mechanisms can be tested in existing devices.The use of polarized deuterium and $^3$He in an experiment avoids the complexities of handling tritium, while encompassing the same nuclear reaction spin-physics, making it a useful proxy to study issues associated with full D-T implementation. $^3$He fuel with 65% polarization can be prepared by permeating optically-pumped $^3$He into a shell pellet. Dynamically polarized $^7$Li-D pellets can achieve 70% vector polarization for the deuterium.Cryogenically-frozen pellets can be injected into fusion facilities by special injectors that minimize depolarizing field gradients. Alternatively, polarized nuclei could be injected as a neutral beam. Once injected, the lifetime of the polarized fuel is monitored through measurements of escaping charged fusion products. Multiple experimental scenarios to measure the polarization lifetime in the DIII-D tokamak and other magnetic-confinement facilities are discussed, followed by outstanding issues that warrant further study.
%B 25th International Symposium on Spin Physics
%C 24 Sep 2023 - 29 Sep 2023, Durham (USA)
Y2 24 Sep 2023 - 29 Sep 2023
M2 Durham, USA
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16 ; PUB:(DE-HGF)8 ; PUB:(DE-HGF)7
%9 Journal ArticleContribution to a conference proceedingsContribution to a book
%R 10.22323/1.456.0107
%U https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1031189