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Mirror ratio
Particles spiral along field lines. Where B spikes at the ends, many reverse. That is the cork.
Tandem magnetic mirror
An open-ended magnetic bottle. Stronger field at the ends reflects particles back into the middle. Abandoned for decades. High-temperature superconductors made the simple geometry interesting again — especially for industrial heat.
End coils are the mirrors. Plasma sits in the magnetic well between them.
How it works
Tokamaks close the doughnut. Mirrors leave the ends open and bounce particles with a magnetic gradient. Losses at the ends are the old problem. HTS fields are the new answer.
Particles spiral along field lines. Where B spikes at the ends, many reverse. That is the cork.
Two mirrors plus a central cell. Realta’s Wisconsin path uses HTS magnets in this geometry.
Not only electrons on a grid. Process heat for industry is part of the commercial story.
U.S. companies
Madison, Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin spinout. DOE Milestone program.