Current status of the ECLAIR magneto-inertial fusion concept exploration experiment.*

ECLAIR is a new experiment under construction designed to investigate the Helicity Drive magneto-inertial fusion concept [1]. Helicity Drive operates in four sequential steps: (a) formation of multiple magnetized plectonemic Taylor states embedded inside stable helical shear flow jets; (b) merging of the Taylor states into a single magnetized plasma jet heated via magnetic reconnection; (c) peristaltic compression of the merged jet to fusion conditions; (d) peristaltic expansion of the burning plasma to produce thrust and electrical power. ECLAIR is made of four custom triple electrode plasma guns adapted from the precursor MOCHI experiment design [2]. The guns aim towards one focal point to promote reconnection-heating of the four plectonemes [3] at the inlet of the peristaltic magnetic nozzle. The magnetic nozzle consists of 20 Bitter-type coils connected in a transmission line setup [4] to peristaltically compress the preheated plasma. First plasma was achieved in April 2023. We present the commissioning of the first two plasma guns, the implementation of the magnetic nozzle [4], and the results from 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations demonstrating merging and compression of four plasma jets [5]. 

 

[1] S. You, AIAA Propulsion & Energy, AIAA-2020-3835 (2020) 

[2] E. S. Lavine, S. You, Phys. Plasmas, 28, 040703 (2021) 

[3] M. Brown, K. Gelber, M. Mebratu, Plasma, 3, 27-37 (2020) 

[4] Poster: N. Marin, S. Pree, C. A. Romero-Talamas et al. 

[5] Poster: S. You et al.