ARTSIMOVICH 28 



mass spectrometer laboratory (of the order of 10-10 amperes), 

 it was necessary to use currents of the order of an ampere. In 

 reaching a solution to this problem, Artsimovich carried out a 

 careful analysis of the problems of the aberrationless focussing 

 of ion beams in axially -symmetric magnetic fields. He de- 

 signed the optics of the ion source. As a result of this work, 

 the Soviet physicists developed a successful production of sepa- 

 rated isotopes. In the beginning of the fifties, Artsimovich be- 

 gan his work on a controlled thermonuclear reaction. The 

 group of physicists under Artsimovich began the study of high 

 current pulse discharge in evacuated deuterium. In the course 

 of these experiments, the group succeeded in obtaining for a 

 short time a highly ionized plasma of a million degrees. In 

 1952, this group of scientific workers discovered that a power- 

 ful pulse discharge in deuterium at low pressure is a source of 

 neutrons and x-ray radiation of short wave length. Further 

 studies showed that the gas-discharge plasma, compressed in 

 the presence of the longitudinal magnetic pole possessed para- 

 magnetic properties. It was also shown that neutrons originate, 

 not as a result of the thermonuclear reaction, but as a result of 

 a specific acceleration process. The work of studying the 

 means of obtaining a controlled thermonuclear reaction is now 

 being conducted extensively under Artsimovich' s direction. 

 The report of L. A. Artsimovich at the Second World Confer- 

 ence on the Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy in Geneva in 

 September, 1958, is a survey of the studies of Soviet physicists 

 in this field. 



Artsimovich has participated in the Pugwash Conferences. 

 As of 1961, he was Secretary of the Physical Mathematical 

 Sciences Department of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences. 

 Bibliography: 



and A. I. Alikhanov . The complete internal reflections of 

 x-rays from thin films. Zhur. Eksptl. i Teoret. Fiz., #3, 

 1933. 



and A. I. Alikhanov, A. I. Alikhanyan. The law of conser- 

 vation of momentum in the annihilation of positrons. Doklady 

 Akad. Nauk S.S.S.R., #7, 1936. 



and V. A. Khramov . Energy losses for fast electrons. 

 Izvest. Akad. Nauk S.S.S.R., Ser. Fiz., #757, 1938. 

 Delayed emission for high energy electrons. Zhur. Eksptl. i 

 Teoret. Fiz., 1938, _8, #8-9. 



and V. A. Khramov . Bremsstrahlung for high energy 

 electrons. Zhur. Eksptl. i Teoret. Fiz., #8, 1938. 



