What we are seeing here is a 2D representation of the spherical S.T.A.R. reactor, the outer sphere (represented by the yellow line) is maintained at zero volt or ground potential. The inner sphere (smaller yellow circle) represents the cathode, which is maintained at -100 kv by an external power supply. The connecting tubes are made from a dielectric material such as glass or ceramic.
On top of the reactor is a separately powered ion source and a vacuum pump is connected at the bottom.
As the animation starts, we can see the deuterium ions being produced at the ion source in green, as gas from the source becomes ionized, the positive ions are attracted towards the negative potential of the cathode, the ions are gradually accellerated through the dielectric tubes to 100 kv energies where they pass through the hollow cathode and decellerate in the dimetrically opposing tube, once the ion has slowed to zero velocity, it is again attracted towards the cathode where it may repeat the cycle or encounter an ion travelling in the opposite direction and collide, with a probability of undergoing nuclear fusion.
This simulation represents a run of aproximately 1.5 nano seconds, and we can see that during this very short period, the simulation shows a number of particle collisions resulting in ions being ejected from the beam. Simulations have been shown tu run in a stable mode for over 1 second.