A new method of operating an inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC)
device is proposed, and its performance is evaluated. The scheme invol
ves an oscillating thermal cloud of ions immersed in a bath of electro
ns that form a harmonic oscillator potential. The scheme is called the
periodically oscillating plasma sphere, and it appears to solve many
of the problems that may limit other IEC systems to low gain. A set of
self-similar solutions to the ion fluid equations is presented, and p
lasma performance is evaluated. Results indicate that performance enha
ncement of gridded IEC systems such as the Los Alamos intense neutron
source device is possible as well as high-performance operation for lo
w-loss systems such as the Penning trap experiment. Finally, a concept
ual idea for a massively modular Penning trap reactor is also presente
d.