JP7516647B1 - Plasma generating device and plasma generating method - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a nuclear fusion reaction generator capable of realizing a high temperature of about 108K. [Solution] The nuclear fusion reaction generator 1 comprises at least a pair of electrodes 3, 3 that apply a potential difference to an insulating liquid containing heavy water, a DC power source 5 connected to the pair of electrodes 3, 3, and a plurality of conductive carbon nanotubes 4 dispersed in the liquid. Each carbon nanotube 4 has a diameter of about 10 nm and a length of about 3 mm. The distance between the electrodes 3, 3 is 1 cm. The potential difference between the electrodes 3, 3 is 100 kV. [Selected Figure] Figure 1

Description

The present disclosure relates to a plasma generating device and a plasma generating method.

The necessary conditions for a nuclear fusion reaction are a high temperature of about 10 ⁸ K, sufficient density, and sufficient confinement time. The problems generally arise are the large energy and power required to generate high temperatures, and the confinement of the ultra-high pressures that are generated.

When fuel plasma is heated to 10 ⁸ K, the pressure increases in proportion to the temperature, and if it is not contained, it will expand and the reaction rate will decrease (for example, even explosives only have a temperature of 10 ³ K (at most about 5000 K), but nuclear fusion plasma, which reaches 10 ⁸ K, is 10 ⁵ times higher). At high temperatures, it emits high-energy thermal radiation and cools rapidly. This is because, according to the Stefan-Boltzmann law, a black body will emit thermal radiation with energy proportional to T ^4. At high temperatures, the radiation is particularly strong, and even the sun, which has a central temperature of 16 million K, will have a temperature near the surface that can be considered a black body drop to about 6000 K. At ^{10 8} K, it would emit more than 10 ¹⁶ times the energy of the solar surface per unit area, which is unrealistic. However, since the optical depth of plasma on Earth is generally small, it will not be as strong, but it will emit thermal radiation (X-rays at high temperatures) commensurate with its temperature and cool rapidly. For this reason, it is not possible to heat the plasma for a long period of time, and it is necessary to make the optical depth of the plasma as small as possible.

To heat 1g of heavy water fuel to ^108K in 1 second, an energy and power of about ^109J and ^109W would be required, which is not realistic. If DC power were used, even the power of the Sakuma Frequency Converter Station, Japan's most powerful DC power source, would be insufficient. Although the power could be achieved with a pulsed power source, the above amount of energy would be difficult to reach. Furthermore, with a practical energy multiplication factor, the output would be on par with that of a conventional bomb with maximum power output. Therefore, a method of concentrating heating of a small amount of fuel is essential for nuclear fusion ignition.

Some kind of confinement method is needed to maintain density and promote the fusion reaction. Some method requires pressure that can easily compress both liquids and solids, and even ceramics must be confined to behave like a liquid. Various confinement methods, including magnetic confinement and inertial confinement, are being considered.

In magnetic confinement, a small amount of fuel is heated in a concentrated manner by heating a dilute plasma (dense enough to be confined by a magnetic field) in a vacuum.

A potential difference of about 10 kV is sufficient to heat the plasma to 10 ⁸ K. However, because the plasma is thin, it needs to be confined for a relatively long period of time.

Plasma is basically treated as a flux of particles, but in reality plasma is a many-body system and a fluid (its behavior is chaotic), so at present it is not possible to confine plasma as desired.

It is also difficult to reheat plasma that is confined in space. The commonly used high-power neutral particle beams and resonant microwaves are difficult to generate efficiently and stably.

Inertial confinement involves shining a high-energy laser at a small ball of fuel from all directions, resulting in concentrated heating of a small amount of fuel.

The high-temperature heated outer shell expands rapidly, compressing the core of the fuel to a pressure of 10 TPa (implosion), and the fuel is heated to 10 ⁸ K by adiabatic compression, resulting in a nuclear fusion reaction. Confinement is achieved by the inertia of the small mass of the fuel itself, so the entire process must be completed in an extremely short time.

However, it is difficult to heat and compress the fuel sphere uniformly, as uniformity is inherently difficult to achieve due to fluid dynamic instabilities. With this method, the fuel must not only be contained but also actively compressed, which can lead to rapid growth of instabilities and the tendency for the fuel shell to break.

And when using a laser for ignition, the low efficiency of conversion from electricity to laser becomes an issue. It is not enough to simply generate a laser; high energy must be packed into a very short period of time using techniques such as chirp pulse compression, which inevitably results in low energy efficiency.

Unlike a one-shot laser, various issues must be overcome to maintain a continuous reaction (such as the lifespan of the laser oscillator and the effects of materials accumulating in the furnace).

A common problem with conventional containment methods is that neutrons and X-rays directly irradiate the reactor walls, causing damage. For this reason, appropriate measures must be taken to remove heat and prevent embrittlement and radioactivity. Methods that use superconducting magnets can be particularly sensitive (for example, the heating of the coolant by neutrons is an issue), and the use of blankets results in increased maintenance costs due to replacement, an increase in low-level radioactive waste, and the irreversible consumption of relatively scarce resources such as lithium through nuclear modification.

There is also the issue of the difficulties in procuring and handling tritium. Because the D-T reaction has the mildest reaction conditions for nuclear fusion, it is necessary to handle relatively large amounts of tritium, which is a rare and radioactive substance.

Patent document 1 discloses that 1,000 carbon nanotubes, each about 3 mm long, are connected in parallel between electrodes, and a pulsed voltage is applied to them to perform nuclear transmutation inside the system containing the carbon nanotubes.

JP 2009-518646 A (Fig. 3, etc.)

However, in Patent Document 1, a pulse voltage of 200 V for 200 nanoseconds is applied to 1000 carbon nanotubes with a total resistance of 200 Ω at a frequency of 10 kHz ([0070]), and 200 W for 200 nanoseconds, i.e., 40,000 nanojoules, is shared among 1000 nanotubes, so that 40 nanojoules are applied per pulse. Since the weight of one nanotube is on the order of 10 ^-12 g, the weight is 40,000 J per gram, and the specific heat of graphite is about 2 J/g·K, so the calculated temperature rise is on the order of 10,000 K. Considering the heat dissipation to the surroundings during heating and the influence of the pulse shape, it is expected that the temperature will not exceed 4000 K. Since the pulse voltage is 10 kHz, there is a non-applied period of about 100 microseconds, and it is considered that the design is such that the carbon nanotubes as a whole will not be destroyed because the heat shield layer will be crushed due to cooling during that time.

Thus, in Patent Document 1, it is thought that the temperature that will be reached will not exceed 4000K, and it is not possible to realize a high temperature of about 10 ⁸ K required for a nuclear fusion reaction.

The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and has an object to provide a plasma generating device and a plasma generating method that can be used in a nuclear fusion reaction generating device.

A nuclear fusion reaction generating device according to a reference example of the present disclosure comprises at least a pair of electrodes that apply a potential difference to an insulating medium containing a nuclear fusion fuel, a power source connected to the pair of electrodes, and a plurality of conductive nanostructured materials dispersed in the medium, each of the nanostructured materials being long and having an end with a diameter of 1 nm or more and 100 nm or less and a length of 0.5 mm or more and 100 mm or less , the distance between the electrodes being 1 mm or more and 100 mm or less, and the potential difference being 10 kV or more and 1000 kV or less.

When a potential difference is applied between a pair of electrodes by supplying power from a power source, at least one conductive path is formed from one electrode to the other electrode among the multiple nanostructured materials dispersed in the medium. Since the distance between the electrodes is 1 mm to 100 mm and the potential difference is 10 kV to 1000 kV, the conductive path formed is given sufficient energy to generate plasma. As a result, the conductive path formed by the nanostructured materials forms plasma filaments, and plasma can be generated. This makes it possible to achieve a high temperature of about 10 ⁸ K. Since the medium contains fusion fuel (e.g., heavy water, tritium, deuterium carbide, etc.), it can be used as fuel for fusion reactions and generate fusion reactions.
Examples of nanostructured materials that can be used include nanotubes such as carbon nanotubes, nanowires such as copper nanowires, nanocoils, graphene nanoribbons, conductive polymers, and the like.

A plasma generating device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure comprises at least a pair of electrodes for applying a potential difference to an insulating medium, a power source connected to the pair of electrodes, and a plurality of conductive nanostructured materials dispersed in the medium, each of the nanostructured materials being long and having an end with a diameter of 1 nm or more and 100 nm or less and a length of 0.5 mm or more and 100 mm or less , the distance between the electrodes being 1 mm or more and 100 mm or less, and the potential difference being 10 kV or more and 1000 kV or less.

When a potential difference is applied between a pair of electrodes by supplying power from a power source, at least one conductive path is formed from one electrode to the other electrode among the multiple nanostructured materials dispersed in the medium. Since the distance between the electrodes is 1 mm to 100 mm and the potential difference is 10 kV to 1000 kV, the conductive path formed is given sufficient energy to generate plasma. As a result, the conductive path formed by the nanostructured materials forms plasma filaments, and plasma can be generated. This makes it possible to achieve high temperatures of about 10 ⁸ K.
Examples of nanostructured materials that can be used include nanotubes such as carbon nanotubes, nanowires such as copper nanowires, nanocoils, graphene nanoribbons, conductive polymers, and the like.

A method for generating a nuclear fusion reaction according to a reference example of the present disclosure is a method for generating a nuclear fusion reaction using at least a pair of electrodes that apply a potential difference to an insulating medium containing a nuclear fusion fuel, a power source connected to the pair of electrodes, and a plurality of conductive nanostructured materials dispersed in the medium, wherein each of the nanostructured materials is long and has an end portion with a diameter of 1 nm or more and 100 nm or less and a length of 0.5 mm or more and 100 mm or less , the distance between the electrodes is 1 mm or more and 100 mm or less, and the potential difference is 10 kV or more and 1000 kV or less.

A plasma generation method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is a plasma generation method using at least a pair of electrodes that apply a potential difference to an insulating medium, a power source connected to the pair of electrodes, and a plurality of conductive nanostructured materials dispersed in the medium, each of the nanostructured materials being long and having ends with a diameter of 1 nm or more and 100 nm or less and a length of 0.5 mm or more and 100 mm or less, the distance between the electrodes being 1 mm or more and 100 mm or less, and the potential difference being 10 kV or more and 1000 kV or less.

A high temperature of about 10 ⁸ K can be achieved.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a nuclear fusion reaction generating device according to an example of an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram corresponding to FIG. 1 and showing a state in which a switch is turned on. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a calculation model of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 .

An embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below.
In the nuclear fusion reaction generating device according to this embodiment, the amount and spatial size of the fuel to be heated at the time of ignition is minimized. As a result, the fuel is heated only in an amount and spatial amount of about ^10-6 of inertial confinement fusion, making it possible to realize rapid heating with a realistic power rate.

A high voltage that does not cause total insulation breakdown is applied to a liquid (medium) that has insulating properties and serves as a nuclear fusion fuel (such as heavy water, tritium, deuterium carbonate, etc.; hereafter simply referred to as "fuel"), in which tiny, long, conductive nanostructured materials (typically with a diameter of about 10 nm) are dispersed. Examples of nanostructured materials that can be used include nanotubes such as carbon nanotubes, nanowires such as copper nanowires, nanocoils, graphene nanoribbons, and conductive polymers.

Partial insulation breakdown causes current to flow through the nanostructured material, and if a sufficiently high potential gradient is applied, the self-inductance allows the current to continue to flow even at temperatures that would normally cause the nanostructured material to break, and a phase transition generates tiny plasma filaments in the fuel. Because plasma is a good conductor, it can be heated by passing an electric current through it (Joule heating, an energy concentration method similar to that of a light bulb filament or heating wire), and positive ions can be heated by lowering the electromagnetic potential toward the negative pole.

In nuclear fusion, Sandia National Laboratories in the United States is conducting experiments in which a high voltage is applied to a metal wire (diameter about 0.1 mm) using a Z machine to generate plasma. In contrast, in this embodiment, a very thin plasma filament is generated with a diameter of about ^10-3 and a cross-sectional area of about ^10-6 . Plasma diffuses quickly because of the high pressure caused by the temperature rise, and it is also thought that heat diffuses quickly because it is in contact with liquid, but it can continue to exist like a plasma in liquid.

The following selectivity occurs in the plasma filament:
(1) Selectivity of electrical conductivity: Plasma is a good conductor, whereas the surrounding non-ionized fuel is an insulator. Therefore, only the plasma portion is selectively heated by Joule heating.

(2) Confinement selectivity The plasma portion is confined by a magnetic field generated by the flow of electric current according to Ampere's law (magnetic confinement, Z-pinch). On the other hand, no confinement force acts on unionized fuel, so the unionized fuel that is heated and pressurized separates the plasma from the surrounding fuel, making it difficult for the heat of the plasma to diffuse to the surroundings (for example, film boiling and burnout). In addition, the small surface area of the plasma is also a factor that slows down thermal diffusion.

The energy required to heat a plasma filament to the point where fusion plasma as described above is generated is small because the amount of material contained in the plasma filament is small. If the plasma filament absorbs surrounding fuel while heating and becomes a plasma filament with a thickness of 100 nm (= 10 ^-5 cm) and a length of 1 cm, the amount of material would be only about 10 ^-10 g.

The radiation pressure caused by thermal radiation is also an important confinement force for plasma, especially at high temperatures. This is because the surface area of the plasma is small, so the radiation pressure, which is proportional to the energy density of the radiation, is greater than in conventional methods.

However, there is no clear separation between ionized and non-ionized regions. At a certain temperature, individual particles have various velocities according to the Maxwell distribution, so at approximately 5000K to 20000K, ionized and non-ionized particles coexist (Saha's ionization formula). The degree of ionization determines the electrical resistance, so there are regions where it becomes more difficult for current to flow toward the periphery. Joule heating also occurs in this region, but since the ionized particles are drawn into the plasma filament by the Lorentz force, only high-energy particles are drawn out in the peripheral region, resulting in cooling and preventing heat dissipation. As a result, the higher the temperature and the higher the degree of ionization, the stronger the confinement force that acts on partially ionized atoms such as carbon and oxygen (if completely ionized, the confinement force is almost the same as that of deuterium).

The surrounding fuel is heated by the plasma filament, creating a temperature gradient. When a temperature gradient occurs while the density remains constant, a pressure gradient is created, causing a flow of particles away from the plasma filament. This makes it less likely that the surrounding cooler fuel will act against this flow and affect the plasma filament. If the flow results in pressure equilibrium, then particle density will be inversely proportional to temperature.

Although a confining force acts on plasma filaments, it is generally difficult to confine them stably for long periods of time. Due to hydrodynamic instabilities such as kink instability, and the large fluctuations that occur in the mesoscopic region, plasma filaments take on complex shapes. Furthermore, if heating takes too long, the plasma filaments will absorb the surrounding fuel and become thicker, causing a larger current to flow and increasing the load on the power supply. Therefore, in order to reduce radiation losses, it is better to heat them at a relatively high rate.

The heat generation rate of plasma filaments is determined by the magnitude of the potential gradient, so even if the absolute applied voltage is not large, a high heat generation rate can be achieved if the distance between the electrodes is small (for example, using the same energy concentration method as a spark plug). In this embodiment, if a readily available DC power source is used and the voltage is 100 kV, and the distance between the electrodes is 1 cm, this becomes 10 MV/m, which is close to the dielectric strength of water. Furthermore, under these conditions, if deuterium ions move a few mm toward the negative pole, they will be provided with enough energy to cause a nuclear fusion reaction. Carbon ions and oxygen ions can be provided with sufficient energy with an even shorter movement distance.

The instability of plasma filaments is also beneficial for nuclear fusion ignition. Nanotubes and nanowires have a large L/D ratio (aspect ratio), so instability generates plasma of various shapes and conditions along the entire length of the plasma filament. This reduces the probability that no self-igniting plasma will be generated in any place when the current stops flowing, and a high probability of self-igniting plasma can be expected.

Because the amount of material to be heated is small, it would be practical if only the heated fuel were to undergo a fusion reaction. If the plasma filament is heated sufficiently, there is a certain probability that a self-ignition region (a region where the energy generated internally by fusion is greater than the energy dissipated to the outside by radiation, etc.) will occur even after the current is turned off. Once the self-ignition region occurs, it begins to expand, mainly due to alpha rays from the fusion plasma, because it is surrounded by liquid-density fuel. This expansion continues until the surrounding fuel is blown away and the pressure is sufficiently reduced (inertial confinement). Although the pressure of the plasma generated by heating is very high, the mass of the surrounding cold fuel is orders of magnitude greater, so it cannot be easily reduced. This situation is similar to the detonation of an explosive.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, there are no strict restrictions on placing objects around the fuel (unlike laser fusion, etc.). Therefore, a tamper can be placed around the fuel to delay the decompression and extend the duration of the fusion reaction. The tamper is heated by neutrons, etc., and the reaction to the scattering into the surrounding area compresses the plasma, extending the time until decompression.

The tamper serves the following roles: confine the fusion plasma by inertia, protect the reactor walls by absorbing neutrons and X-rays emitted from the fusion plasma, and act as a buffer to convert the extremely high temperatures of the fusion plasma into a manageable temperature for generating electricity. For this reason, it is desirable for the tamper to be a fluid that absorbs neutrons and X-rays (for example, a combination of molten metal and water, or water with heavy metals dispersed in it).

Regarding fuel density, if the fuel density is high, the heat dissipation during heating will be large, but the inertia acting after heating will be large. On the other hand, if the fuel density is low, the heat dissipation during heating will be small, but the inertia acting after heating will be small. If the fuel is made into a supercritical fluid, the density of the fuel can be controlled arbitrarily, from a state where the nanostructured material is dispersed at or above liquid density, to a state where the nanostructured material is suspended at a density lower than air, so ignition can be performed by adjusting the density to suit the purpose. The fuel density can be changed during heating. For example, electrical heating can be started in a water vapor atmosphere at first, and cold water can be added during electrical current flow.

The waveform of the voltage applied to the fuel may be DC, AC, or AC biased to DC, or may be any other waveform customized for ignition. This waveform is believed to determine the characteristics of the fuel being entrapped in the plasma filament.

The number of conductive paths that occur simultaneously can be adjusted by adjusting the dispersion density of the nanostructured material and the contact area of the electrodes with the fuel. If there are fewer conductive paths, the fuel can be heated to a higher temperature by concentrating the energy. If there are more conductive paths, the paths attract each other due to the pinch force, so the fuel can be more tightly confined. The distance between the opposing electrodes can be made larger than the dimension of a single carbon nanotube.

When using carbon nanotubes, fuel (such as deuterium, heavy water, or deuterium carbonate) can be placed inside the tube, or a substituent containing fuel can be bonded to it. Tritium or lithium can be used as an ignition aid. These are particularly effective when the fuel density is low.

Carbon nanotubes are easy to obtain in thin pieces with a diameter of about 10 nm. In addition, due to their material and size, they have an extremely low X-ray absorption rate and a small optical depth, and due to Kirchhoff's law, they also have a low emissivity, meaning there is little radiation loss. On the other hand, metal nanowires have the advantage that they are easy to heat due to their high charge density.

The ignition conditions can be controlled by the degree of dispersion of the nanostructured materials. By intentionally reducing the degree of dispersion and passing electricity through multiple nanostructured materials in an entangled state, an ignition strategy can be adopted that creates a more diverse plasma-fuel configuration.

As a fuel, it is preferable to use liquid deuterium in order to increase the effective density and the reaction probability. On the other hand, there are advantages to using heavy water or deuterium carbide to mix oxygen and carbon ions. First, the density is high, and it can be confined with greater inertia. Also, when the ions are fully ionized, the charge ratios of deuterium ions, oxygen ions, and carbon ions are close, so they behave electromagnetically in the same way and move along similar trajectories when electricity is applied, but when the current stops and they start to behave thermally, the oxygen ions are eight times hotter and the carbon ions are six times hotter than the deuterium ions. The higher the temperature, the faster the diffusion speed, so when released from the confinement caused by the pinch force, the oxygen and carbon ions spread out first, warming and heating the deuterium ions, promoting the nuclear fusion reaction (the Soret effect is also involved in this).

[Example]
An example of the above-mentioned embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.
1 shows an outline of a nuclear fusion reaction generator 1 according to one embodiment of this invention. As shown in the figure, the nuclear fusion reaction generator 1 is provided with a pair of electrodes 3, 3 so as to apply a potential difference to an insulating liquid 2. The electrodes 3, 3 are made of metal, for example, and the distance between the electrodes 3, 3 is set to 1 cm. The distance between the electrodes 3, 3 is set to a dimension larger than that of one carbon nanotube 4.

A DC power supply (power source) 5 is electrically connected to each electrode 3, 3 via a switch 6. The DC power supply 5 is capable of applying a voltage of 100 kV to the electrodes 3, 3. Therefore, the electric field strength applied to the liquid 2 is 10 MV/m.

Liquid 2 is insulating and is water containing heavy water. A large number of carbon nanotubes 4 are dispersed in liquid 2. The carbon nanotubes 4 have a diameter of about 10 nm and a length of about 3 mm.

The on/off operation of the switch 6 is controlled by the control unit. The control unit is composed of, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a computer-readable storage medium. The series of processes for realizing the various functions are stored in the form of a program in a storage medium, for example, and the CPU reads this program into the RAM and executes information processing and arithmetic processing to realize the various functions. The program may be pre-installed in a ROM or other storage medium, provided in a state stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or distributed via wired or wireless communication means. Computer-readable storage media include magnetic disks, magneto-optical disks, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and semiconductor memories.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the switch 6 is turned on by a command from the control unit, a DC voltage is applied between the electrodes 3, 3, and an electric field strength of 10 MV/m is applied to the liquid 2. As shown in FIG. 2, the carbon nanotubes 4 are dispersed in the liquid 2, so there is a certain probability that the ends of each carbon nanotube 4 are sufficiently close to the ends of other nanotubes or to the electrode 3. Then, insulation breakdown occurs between the ends of the carbon nanotubes 4 or in the gap between the ends of the carbon nanotubes 4 and the electrodes 3, 3, and a current I flows. Since the dielectric strength of pure water is about 60 MV/m, no current flows in other parts. The flowing current I is constant everywhere in the conductive path, and the current density is high in the carbon nanotube 4 because it passes through a narrow area of the order of 10 nm in diameter, resulting in high energy density and magnetic field strength.

FIG. 3 shows a calculation model that is a simplification of FIGS.
For the sake of simplicity of calculation, a model is considered in which a plurality of carbon nanotubes 4 are connected in series between the electrodes 3, 3.

The volume of a series of carbon nanotubes is 1 x 10 ^-6 x 10 ^-6 = 10 ^-12 (cm ³ ). For comparison, the volume of a light bulb filament is 1 x 10 ^-2 x 10 ^-2 = 10 ^-4 (cm ³ ). If the particle density of a carbon nanotube and a light bulb filament are similar (the particle density of solids is not significantly different), when the same amount of power is injected, the energy received by each carbon nanotube particle will be 10 ⁸ times that of a light bulb filament, making it possible to heat up rapidly.

If carbon nanotubes have the same density as graphite, the mass of a 10 ^-12 cm ³ carbon nanotube would be 2.2 x 10 ^-12 g. The specific heat at constant pressure of plasma is about 100 J/g·K at 20,000 K (reference value: from Fig. 6 in https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjtp1987/4/1/4_1_3/_pdf/-char/ja), so the energy required to heat this carbon nanotube to 10 ⁸ K is on the order of 10 ^-2 J. Therefore, a voltage of 100 kV is sufficient to inject this energy.

Next, a consideration will be given to what factors may be causing the inability to heat up to 10 ⁸ K using the nuclear fusion reaction generating device according to this embodiment.
It is conceivable that the current may be interrupted during heating, especially when the nanotubes evaporate. However, it is believed that the current will not be interrupted due to self-inductance. Also, a carbon arc lamp is an example in which carbon vapor does not impede conduction.
It is conceivable that the thickness of the generated plasma will increase rapidly, exceeding the power supply capacity before sufficient energy is injected. However, because the surface area of the plasma is small and heat does not flow easily, and because a heat shielding layer is formed by the non-ionized gas, the plasma will not become too thick and exceed the power supply capacity. Even with actual in-liquid plasma, the phenomenon of the plasma thickness increasing rapidly has not been confirmed.

The effects of the present embodiment described above are as follows.
When a potential difference is applied between a pair of electrodes by supplying electricity from a power source, at least one conductive path is formed from one electrode to the other electrode among the multiple nanostructured materials dispersed in the liquid. Since the distance between the electrodes is about 1 cm and the potential difference is about 100 kV, the conductive path formed is given enough energy to generate plasma. As a result, the conductive path formed by the nanostructured materials forms plasma filaments, which can generate plasma. This makes it possible to achieve high temperatures of about 10 ⁸ K. And since the medium contains deuterium, it can be used as fuel for nuclear fusion reactions and generate nuclear fusion reactions.

Although the above-mentioned embodiment and examples have been described as a nuclear fusion reaction generating device and a nuclear fusion reaction generating method, they can also be used as a plasma generating device and a plasma generating method.
Although the carbon nanotube 4 has been described as having a diameter of 10 nm, the diameter may be in the range of 1 nm to 100 nm and the length may be in the range of 0.5 mm to 100 mm.
Although the distance between the electrodes 3, 3 has been described as 1 cm, it may be within the range of 1 mm to 100 mm.
Although the potential difference between the electrodes 3, 3 has been described as 100 kV, it is sufficient that the potential difference is in the range of 10 kV to 1000 kV, and that the electric field strength is such that, together with the distance between the electrodes, total dielectric breakdown does not occur.

1 Nuclear fusion reaction generator 2 Liquid (medium)
3 Electrode 4 Carbon nanotube 5 Power supply 6 Switch

Claims (2)

At least one pair of electrodes for applying a potential difference to an insulating medium;
A power source connected to the pair of electrodes;
a plurality of electrically conductive nanostructured materials dispersed in the medium;
Equipped with
Each of the nanostructured materials is elongated with an end having a diameter of 1 nm to 100 nm and a length of 0.5 mm to 100 mm;
The distance between the electrodes is 1 mm or more and 100 mm or less,
A plasma generating device in which the potential difference is 10 kV or more and 1000 kV or less. At least one pair of electrodes for applying a potential difference to an insulating medium;
A power source connected to the pair of electrodes;
a plurality of electrically conductive nanostructured materials dispersed in the medium;
A plasma generation method using
Each of the nanostructured materials is elongated with an end having a diameter of 1 nm to 100 nm and a length of 0.5 mm to 100 mm;
The distance between the electrodes is 1 mm or more and 100 mm or less,
The plasma generating method, wherein the potential difference is 10 kV or more and 1000 kV or less.