Measurement of $^{3}$He($^{3}$He,2p)$^{4}$He Reactions in an IEC Device

An inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) device has been used to measure $^{3}$He($^{3}$He,2p)$^{4}$He reactions. The experimental setup consists of a spherical vacuum vessel approximately 61 cm in diameter held at ground potential and a spherical cathode centered within the vessel that can be biased from 0 to -200kV. The ion source is an externally mounted high-density helicon source which provides a beam of up to $\sim $ 6*10$^{16}$ ions/s. This source allows for IEC operation to occur at $^{3}$He background pressures of $<$ 0.02 Pa, reducing atomic effects and allowing for more straightforward code validation. An integral equation approach models atomic physics processes and nuclear reactions in order to predict the energy spectrum of the $^{3}$He ions(details in poster by Emmert and Santarius, this conference). The integral equation is solved numerically by finite differences. The $^{3}$He($^{3}$He,2p)$^{4}$He fusion reaction rates measured experimentally will be compared to those generated by the computer code.