text: There are also electrostatic confinement fusion devices. These devices confine ions using electrostatic fields. The best known is the fusor. This device has a cathode inside an anode wire cage. Positive ions fly towards the negative inner cage, and are heated by the electric field in the process. If they miss the inner cage they can collide and fuse. Ions typically hit the cathode, however, creating prohibitory high conduction losses. Also, fusion rates in fusors are very low due to competing physical effects, such as energy loss in the form of light radiation. Designs have been proposed to avoid the problems associated with the cage, by generating the field using a non-neutral cloud. These include a plasma oscillating device, a Penning trap and the polywell. The technology is relatively immature, however, and many scientific and engineering questions remain.
  The most well known Inertial electrostatic confinement approach is the fusor.  Starting in 1999, a number of amateurs have been able to do amateur fusion using these homemade devices. Other IEC devices include: the Polywell, MIX POPS and Marble concepts.