This interim report summarizes results from the Tandem Mirror Experiment (TMX) during the period January to July 1980 and describes the physics experiments, the machine operation, and the diagnostics that were added to TMX during this period. This operating period followed the initial proof-of-principle TMX experiments and predated the ongoing final experiments preceding TMX shutdown for modification to TMX Upgrade. The results described in this report include measurements of plasma parameters and plasma behavior which confirm the initial TMX results that demonstrated that the tandem mirror configuration can be generated and sustained by neutral beam injection and that the tandem mirror configuration improves confinement of magnetic mirror systems.

Recent designs for mirror fusion reactors with good power balance include ambipolar potential plugs to reduce end losses and thermal barriers to maintain a difference in electron temperature between the large-volume central cell plasma and the confining end plugs. These designs led to several new requirements for D/sup 0/ neutral beams derived from negative ions at energies of 150 to 200 keV and possibly higher. Such beams are required for injection of fat ions into the plugs and the barrier and for charge-exchange pumping of thermal ions diffusing into the barrier. Negative ions are preferred for these purposes because of their relatively high efficiency of neutralization and their high purity of single-energy D/sup -/. Examples of injector designs for Tandem Mirror Next Step (TMNS) and Tandem Mirror Reactors (TMR) are presented.

Progress is reported in the research project aimed at investigation of the basic chemical kinetics and mechanisms in catalytic hydrogenation of lignite suspended in a carrier oil in a continuous reactor operating at steady state. Specifically, the research is designed to study the overall conversion rate and the elemental transformation from the raw materials into products under surface reaction cntrolling conditions and to postulate the reaction mechanisms of hydroliquefaction and hydrogasification of lignite based upon the results obtained. A delay of six months in the delivery of a new slurry pump has prevented extension of the range of available residence times in the continuous stirred tank reactor. A quick-feed mechanism installed on the batch autoclave permits more accurate determination of running times at constant temperature. A detailed study of decomposition of carrier oil (anthracene oil) sowed that gasification of the oil was considerably greater at high temperatures than previously expected. Future runs will be limited to conditions under which the carrier oil loss is a relatively small fraction of the oil generated from lignite.

The measurement of angles plays an important role in practically every discipline of optics, including prism manufacture, optical assembly and alignment. It is the purpose of this paper to review some of the angle measurement techniques and how they are used in optical testing.

This report will analyse the authority of the Chief Executive to declare a state of emergency, and will then discuss some of the more significant actions that the President may take under these conditions.

Weekly report of the Texas Crop and Livestock Reporting Service on turkey poult numbers in Texas and compared with other states. It includes compiled statistics across six consecutive weeks during two years for turkey eggs set and poults hatched.