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Fuel supply is a fundamental issue in application of inertial nuclear fusion. To address this issue, we propose the use of an HTS superconductor capsule containing nuclear fuel, which can levitate in a magnetic field. During magnetic levitation, positional stability is important because it affects levitation accuracy to the focal point of giant lasers. We have developed a numerical simulation program based on a 3-D hybrid finite element and boundary element method to evaluate positional stability during magnetic levitation. Moreover, we have optimally designed and constructed a multi-coil system wherein spherical HTS bulk of 5 mm diameter can levitate stably. Finally, we have conducted the experiments for the evaluation of magnetic levitation, and compared the results with our simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have been developing an active magnetic levitation system, which is composed of a field-cooled disk-shaped or sphere shaped high-temperature superconducting bulks (HTS bulks) and vertically piled ring-shaped electromagnets without an iron core. We suppose that this active magnetic levitation system can be applied to inertial nuclear fusion. In inertial nuclear fusion, one of the most important issues is to achieve high-accuracy position control of the fusion fuel, which consists of deuterium and tritium in order to evenly illuminate the entire surface of the target. Therefore, active magnetic levitation is applied to the levitation and position control of a sphere-shaped superconducting capsule containing nuclear fusion fuel. In this study, we designed and constructed a three-coil position control system in order to achieve the stable levitation of the sphere-shaped HTS bulk with a diameter of 5 mm by using the numerical simulation based on the hybrid finite element and boundary element analysis. Then, we carried out the experiments on the position control and restoring force characteristics of the sphere-shaped HTS bulk in the constructed levitation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]