Abstract. An assessment is given of the various types of thermonuclear device based on shock heating. The classical shock heating process in which the mean free path in the shocked gas is much smaller than the dimensions of the apparatus is analysed and it is shown that shock heating alone is unlikely to yield temperatures in excess of the order of 3 × 10⁶ deg K with present day techniques. The temperature may be increased in principle to a value required for power production by isentropic compression after the shock heating phase. The so-called Z pinch types of apparatus are limited by the growth of instabilities whereas the θ pinch devices are limited by the difficulty of recovering energy without undue ohmic losses.

Print publication: Issue 3 (1 March 1960)
Received 13 March 1959