Synchrotron Radiation Transport - What Pins the Burner Temperature

A hot deuterium–helium-3 mirror loses more power to electron-cyclotron emission than to any other channel, and that loss pins the optimal electron temperature. A first-principles transport calculation gives a reabsorbed synchrotron loss of 1803 MW against a 2546 MW radiated scale — versus 919 MW (Trubnikov) and 66,677 MW optically-thin, a near-two-order model spread it collapses. The plasma is optically thick to n*≈10.4, and the loss fraction falls with machine size.