Plasma Heating

Fusion plasmas must reach 100+ million degrees. External heating — neutral beams and radio-frequency waves — brings them there and drives current.

Goal

Reach and sustain fusion temperatures (T_i0 = 65–70 keV)

Ohmic limit

Resistive heating alone can't reach ignition

Kronos methods

Neutral beams + radio-frequency (EBW/HHFW)

Dual role

Also drives non-inductive current

A deuterium–helium-3 plasma must be heated to central ion temperatures of 65–70 keV — well over a hundred million degrees. The plasma current provides some ohmic heating, but its effectiveness fades as the plasma gets hotter (resistance drops), so external auxiliary heating is essential to reach fusion conditions.

Kronos MetroVolt uses a combination of neutral beam injection — firing fast neutral atoms that ionize and deposit their energy — and radio-frequency waves such as electron Bernstein waves (EBW) and high-harmonic fast waves (HHFW). These do double duty: the same systems that heat the plasma also drive non-inductive current, and the HHFW launcher is the tool proposed for the fast-ion channeling demonstration.