Editing Magnetic mirror (section)

===Early work===
[[File:Q-cumber magnetic mirror in 1955.jpg|thumb|right|Lawrence Livermore's Q-cumber device, seen in 1955 when it was still classified. It was among the first to clearly demonstrate confinement using the mirror effect.]]

The concept of magnetic-mirror plasma confinement was proposed in the early-1950s independently by [[Gersh Budker]]<ref>In Russian: [http://eqworld.ipmnet.ru/ru/library/books/Leontovich_t3_1958ru.djvu Г.И. Будкер, Физика плазмы и проблема управляемых термоядерных реакций, Т. 3, Изд. АН СССР, Москва (1958), стр. 3-31]; in English: G. I. Budker, Plasma Physics and the Problem of Controlled Thermonuclear Reactions, Vol. 3, Pergamon Press, New York (1959), pp. 1-33</ref> at the [[Kurchatov Institute]], Russia and [[Richard F. Post]] at the [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] in the US.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www-naweb.iaea.org/napc/physics/2ndgenconf/data/Proceedings%201958/papers%20Vol32/Paper31_Vol32.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www-naweb.iaea.org/napc/physics/2ndgenconf/data/Proceedings%201958/papers%20Vol32/Paper31_Vol32.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=R. F. Post, Proc. of Second U.N. Int. Conf. on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, Vol. 32, Paper A/Conf. 15/P/377, Geneva (1958), pp. 245-265}}</ref>

With the formation of [[Project Sherwood]] in 1951, Post began the development of a small device to test the mirror configuration. This consisted of a linear [[pyrex]] tube with magnets around the outside. The magnets were arranged in two sets, one set of small magnets spaced evenly along the length of the tube, and another pair of much larger magnets at either end. In 1952 they were able to demonstrate that plasma within the tube was confined for much longer times when the mirror magnets at the end were turned on. At the time, he referred to this device as the "pyrotron", but this name did not catch on.