Toroidal solenoid

The toroidal solenoid was an early 1946 design for a fusion power device designed by George Paget Thomson and Moses Blackman of Imperial College London. It proposed to confine a deuterium fuel plasma to a toroidal (donut-shaped) chamber using magnets, and then heating it to fusion temperatures using radio frequency energy in the fashion of a microwave oven. It is notable for being the first such design to be patented,^[1] filing a secret patent on 8 May 1946 and receiving it in 1948.^[a]

A critique by Rudolf Peierls noted several problems with the concept. Over the next few years, Thomson continued to suggest starting an experimental effort to study these issues, but was repeatedly denied as the underlying theory of plasma diffusion was not well developed. When similar concepts were suggested by Peter Thonemann that included a more practical heating arrangement, John Cockcroft began to take the concept more seriously, establishing small study groups at Harwell. Thomson adopted Thonemann's concept, abandoning the radio frequency system.

When the patent had still not been granted in early 1948, the Ministry of Supply inquired about Thomson's intentions. Thomson explained the problems he had getting a program started and that he did not want to hand off the rights until that was clarified. As the directors of the UK nuclear program, the Ministry quickly forced Harwell's hand to provide funding for Thomson's program. Thomson then released his rights the patent, which was granted late that year. Cockcroft also funded Thonemann's work, and with that, the UK fusion program began in earnest. After the news furor over the Huemul Project in February 1951, significant funding was released and led to rapid growth of the program in the early 1950s, and ultimately to the ZETA reactor of 1958.

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