The discussion centers on the limitations of ion trapping approaches, such as the orbitrap, in effectively containing fusion plasma compared to magnetic confinement methods used in tokamaks. Key points include the necessity of achieving temperatures around 10^8K and sufficient plasma density for effective fusion, which cannot be accomplished solely through ion trapping. The consensus is that while electrostatic fields can trap ions, they are inadequate for maintaining the necessary conditions for fusion due to the instability they introduce when attempting to confine both electrons and ions simultaneously.
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undefined said:Clearly confinement alone is insufficient. You also need temperature on the order of 108K to generate high energy collisions (as you mention), plasma of high enough density that collisions occur frequently for a long enough time to have a good probability of some of them resulting in fusion. However I still don't understand why electrostatic fields wouldn't be very useful in containing the plasma at a decent density for long enough for fusion to commence. Clearly heating would need to be accomplished by some other means (not particularly relevant to my question).