AAWSAP DIRD, Aneutronic Fusion Propulsion II, November 2010

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Figure 1. Fusion Reaction Cross Sections vs. Temperature
Table 2: Fusion Peak Interaction Temperatures and Fusion Energy to X-rays
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If the ratio is low, it takes more confining energy to sustain the reaction. The largest
fusion output is obtained when the temperature is chosen so that <crv>/T2 is a
maximum (known as the Lawson Criteria), which for plasma ignition is achieved when
the fusion reactions produce enough power to maintain the temperature without
external heating. This is shown in Table 3 for the most relevant neutronic and
aneutronic fusion fuels. While the ignition temperature is up to a factor of 10 higher for
the aneutronic fusion reactions, the confinement power required for ignition will be one
to two orders of magnitude greater. This will therefore require some unique
confinement concepts to achieve ignition.
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