Part 1 of 6 Parts
         Nuclear fusion for power generation holds great promise but it has been a huge challenge because of the extreme physical conditions that are required to generate the fusion reaction. First of all, temperatures of almost two hundred million degrees Fahrenheit are needed to heat the ionized gas called a plasma. Second, enormous pressure must be applied to the plasma. And, most important of all, these conditions must be maintained long enough to achieve a net energy output.
     Attempts to achieve workable nuclear fusion reactors are currently dominated by expensive, large-scale experimental facilities that utilize super powerful lasers and microwave generators, particle beams, giant superconducting magnet systems and other advanced technologies. There are companies working on simpler and cheaper systems but these have not borne fruit. It may be that workable fusion will require complex and very expensive technology.
     However, there is a possible approach to nuclear fusion that might not require an expensive investment in complex technology. It would make use of a device called the dense plasma focus (DPF). The DPF operates by generating an electrical discharge that evolves rapidly in time and space, concentrating its energy into an array of filamentary structures and ultimately into a tiny knot-like entity that is referred to as a plasamoid. Inside the plasmoid, the extreme conditions that are needed for fusion arise. The DPF has been created in a variety of forms since the 1960s. Dozens of universities and government laboratories all over the world has utilized DFF devices for experimental research in the field of plasma physics. DPFs are also used as a source of x-rays and neutrons.
     In addition to the many laboratory uses of DPFs, they demonstrate phenomena that serve as a model for a variety of self-organizing processes in natures. These ranges from the laboratory scale all the way to the scale of galaxies.
     It has been experimentally demonstrated that a DPF can generated a large number of fusion reactions when it is operated in a chamber full of deuterium gas. It is strange that the idea of using the DPF for commercial power production has never received the attention and funding required to explore that potential.
     Most of the money being spent on fusion research today is being applied to large, expensive projects such as the huge giant International Torus Experimental Reactor (ITER) now being constructed in southern France with an estimated total cost of over forty billion dollars. Smaller more innovative project that are less prestigious have trouble finding funding.
     There is some good news with respect to DPF research. Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc (LPP Fusion) is dedicated to developing dense plasma focus into commercial sources of energy. This work still has a long way to go but analysts say that there is a good chance that it will be successful. The founder and head of LPP Fusion is physicist Eric Lerner. He is one of the leading experts in the world on the plasma focus and related areas of plasma physics and astrophysics.
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