On the Path to Aneutronic Fusion Michl Binderbauer | President & CTO | TAE Technologies

From Wakefields to Astrophysics and Fusion – UC Irvine, January 25-26, 2018

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 1 Congratulations Toshi

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 2 Agenda

• Concept and History

• C-2W Program Overview and Initial Results • Program goals • Norman (aka C-2W) – design, subsystems and performance • FRC formation/translation studies • Initial FRC collisional-merging experiments

• Technology Spin-offs

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 3 TAE Concept Advanced beam driven FRC • High plasma β~1 • compact and high power density • aneutronic fuel capability • indigenous kinetic particles • Tangential high-energy beam injection • large orbit ion population decouples from micro-turbulence • improved stability and transport • Simple geometry • only diamagnetic currents • easier design and maintenance • Linear unrestricted divertor • facilitates impurity, ash and power removal

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 4 Past TAE Program Evolution

A & B – Basic FRC core C-2 – HPF* w/ 2 guns, Ti getter C-2U – Sustainment 5+ ms n 100-800 G, 5-10 eV n 1 kG, 1 keV n 1 kG, 1 keV n ion beams, Wb ~0.1 kJ n neutral beams, Wb ~12 kJ n neutral beams, Wb ~100 kJ

* HPF – High Performance FRC regime

C-1 – Enhanced lifetime C-2 – HPF* w/ 2 guns, Li getter n 400 G, 10 eV n 1 kG, 1 keV n ion beams, Wb ~1 kJ n neutral beams, Wb ~20 kJ FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 5 C-2W Program Overview

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 6 Phase C-2W Goals Explore beam driven FRCs at 10x stored energy • Principal physics focus on • scrape off layer and divertor behavior • ramp-up characteristics • transport regimes

• Specific programmatic goals • demonstrate ramp-up and sustainment for times well in excess of characteristic confinement and wall times • explore energy confinement scaling over broad range of plasma parameters • core and edge confinement scaling and coupling • consolidated picture between theory, simulation and experiment • develop and demonstrate first order active plasma control

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 7 Norman (aka C-2W) TAE’s 5th generation machine

Magnetic Field 0.1–0.3 T

Plasma dimensions – rs , Ls 0.4, 3 m 19 -3 Density – ne 3×10 m FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 8 Temperature – Ti ,Te 1-2, 0.2-1 keV Norman – Neutral Beam System

Norman Norman C-2U Phase 1 Phase 2 Beam Energy, keV 15 15 15/15-40 Total Power 10 13 21 # of Injectors 6 8 4/4 Pulse, ms 8 30 30 Ion current per source, A 130 130 130

• Centered, angled and tangential beam injection • angle adjustable in range of 15°–25° • injection in ion-diamagnetic (co-current) direction • High current with low/tunable beam energy • reduces peripheral fast-ion losses • increases core heating / effective current drive • rapidly establishes dominant fast-ion pressure for ramp-up

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 9 Norman – Diagnostics Midplane Cross Section Comprehensive diagnostics suite

• 4 main zones with 40+ diagnostics • Core plasma inside the FRC separatrix

• mirror-confined scrape-off layer and jet Magnetic probes • rapidly expanding plasma in the inner Thomson Scattering divertors and/or end divertors FIR Chord Ports 100 Channel Bolometer

• FRC formation sections Bremsstrahlung and Dα Fan Secondary Electron Emission Neutral Beam Profile Monitor FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 10 Norman – Divertors Critical for edge control • 2×106 L/s pumping to reduce recycling

LN2 Supply • field expanders to minimize e– cooling • electrodes for stability control

Cryopanels • fast switching coils to translate FRCs

Fast-Switching Magnet Coils

Funnel Limiters

Divertor Electrodes (20 kV standoff)

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 11 Norman – Divertor Operating Modes Flared magnetic fields, edge biasing & outer/inner divertor switching S. Outer S. Inner N. Inner N. Outer Divertor S. Formation Divertor Confnement Divertor N. Formation Divertor

1.5 Magnets Electrodes NB injection 1.0 Divertors

Radius (m) 0.5 Outer (1) Biasing from 0 hg20180106.tae.1 -10 -5 0 FRC 5 10 S. Outer Scrape-oS. Innerf layer SeparatrixN. Inner PlasmaN. gun Outer Divertor S. Formation Divertor AxialCon distancefnement (m) Divertor N. Formation Divertor

1.5 Magnets Electrodes NB injection 1.0 Divertors

Radius (m) 0.5 Inner (2) Biasing from 0 hg20180106.tae.2 -10 -5 0 FRC 5 10 Scrape-of layer Axial distance (m) Separatrix Plasma gun FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 12 C-2W Initial Results

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 13 Norman Formation Systems Work Flawlessly Greatly improved experimental efficiency

Pulsed-Power (MR) Misfiring Trend Formation systems fully optimized 40 ~450 GW deployed to form plasmoids 35 COMMISSIONING PHYSICS OPS

30 • 400+ switched power units

25 • all systems fully monitored 20 • maximum switch jitter under 10 ns 15 Excellent consistency and shot-to-shot 10 power/MR system misfiring rate (%) rate misfiring system power/MR - reproducibility 5

Pulsed 0 Superior operational efficiency 101500 102000 102500 103000 103500 104000 Shot Number • less than 2% system misfires

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 14 Initial FRC Translation Studies (single-sided) Successful translation through inner divertor achieved

Experiment S. Inner Simulation Divertor 2D MHD simulation by LamyRidge code Confinement S. Formation S. Inner Divertor Confinement

S. Formation

Experimental time evolution of excluded flux radius Simulated time evolution of excluded flux radius during during formation and translation formation and translation

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 15 Initial FRC Translation Studies (single-sided) Successful translation through inner divertor achieved

Experiment S. Inner Fast-Framing Camera Images Divertor S. Formation Confinement During FRC translation in inner inner in divertor

Inner divertor camera observes clean FRC translation

During FRC translation After settled, t~0.9 ms in in confinement

Experimental time evolution of excluded flux radius Confinement vessel camera observes FRC reflections during formation and translation as plasma bounces back and forth in CV

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 16 Norman Vacuum Performance Trends Surface conditioning and patience are critical

C-2W Vacuum History/Trend 1E-05 Great improvement from Ti gettering CV – In. Div. In. –

Out. Div. • correlated base pressure drops – Confinement

1E-06 gettering Inner Divertor Ti • Significant reduction in gettering

gettering Outer Divertor Ti

Ti dominant impurities (C, O, etc)

1E-07 Vacuum conditions still improving • increased gettering over time 1E-08 Vacuum Pressure (Torr) • plasma cleaning of surfaces

1E-09 Increasing FRC performance over time 103300 103400 103500 103600 103700 103800 103900 104000 104100 104200 Shot Number

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 17 Norman Vacuum Performance Trends Surface conditioning and patience are critical

Impurity, C-I History/Trend 1.E+0 Great improvement from Ti gettering Carbon Impurity in Confinement • correlated base pressure drops

1.E-1

) • Significant reduction in 2 dominant impurities (C, O, etc) I (W/m - 1.E-2 Vacuum conditions still improving

Impurity, C • increased gettering over time 1.E-3 • plasma cleaning of surfaces gettering started Ti 1.E-4 Increasing FRC performance over time 102800 103000 103200 103400 103600 103800 104000 104200 Shot Number

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 18 Edge-Biasing Impact Successful instability control FRC Stable Unstable FRC

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 19 Norman Plasma Lifetime Trends Continuous performance increase throughout past few weeks

Plasma Lifetime_T5 History 9 Ti getter in In-DIVs 8

7

6

5 Ti getter in Out-DIVs 4

Ti getter 3 in CV w/o Ti getter Plasma Lifetime, T5 (ms) T5 Lifetime, Plasma 2

1

0 102900 103100 103300 103500 103700 103900 104100 104300 Shot Number

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 20 Norman Plasma Temperature Trends Continuous improvement in total temperature

Total Temperature History/Trend 2 Total temperature (ion+electron) 1.8 Ttot_TS@50us consistently increasing Ttot_TS@100us 1.6 Ttot_TS@200us • lower impurity radiation losses 1.4

1.2 • more efficient beam coupling 1 • better confinement 0.8

0.6 Early temperature moving to 2 keV Total Temperature (keV) 0.4 • higher energy formation section 0.2

0 • better pre-ionization 103400 103500 103600 103700 103800 103900 104000 104100 104200 Shot Number Increasing FRC performance over time

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 21 Norman (C-2W) Summary

• Engineering accomplishments • All major subsystems constructed and operational in less than 12 months build cycle • Highly upgraded formation pulsed power, vacuum system, neutral beams, magnets, edge-biasing systems and divertors

• Initial experimental results • FRCs successfully formed and translated through inner divertors • ~ 400 km/s translation speeds observed (250 km/s in C-2U) • FRC collision/merging experiments already producing 8+ ms plasma lifetime

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 22 Technology Spin-offs

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 23 TAE Life Sciences

• Spin-off based on TAE neutral beam injector technology

• TAE majority owned, but independent capital and management team

• Will offer full full treatment solution to hospitals, not just neutron beam

• First clinical system sold in October 2017, to deploy in 2019

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 24 Neutron Beam • Design of first clinical beam underway Development • Conceptual design review completed

• Early procurement and supply chain development under way (aids fusion beam development)

• Pre-clinical prototype under assembly, to undergo testing by summer 2018

FROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICS AND FUSION | JANUARY 25-26, 2018 25 Happy BirthdayFROM WAKEFIELDS TO ASTROPHYSICSToshi AND FUSION | JANUARY! 25-26, 2018 26