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Updated: Mar 2, 2026

Non-equilibrium Microwave Plasma for Efficient High Temperature Chemistry
Published on: August 1, 2017
Stimulated Emission of Fast Alfvén Waves within Magnetically Confined Fusion Plasmas
J W S Cook1,2, R O Dendy1,3, S C Chapman1
1Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Warwick University, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
A fast Alfvén wave with a finite amplitude is shown to grow by a stimulated emission process that we propose for exploitation in toroidal magnetically confined fusion plasmas. Stimulated emission occurs while the wave propagates inward through the outer midplane plasma, where a population inversion of the energy distribution of fusion-born ions is observed to arise naturally. Fully nonlinear first-principles simulations, which self-consistently evolve particles and fields under the Maxwell-Lorentz system, demonstrate this novel "α-particle channeling" scenario for the first time.
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