 <!-- deleted image removed: thumbnail|this is an image of an electron beam being reflected by the magnetic mirror effect."a demonstration of the magnetic mirror effect" american journal of physics, volume 30, issue 12, pp. 867-869 (1962).  --> thumbnail|this shows a basic magnetic mirror machine including a charged particle's motion a magnetic mirror happens anytime a charged particle is reflected from a high density magnetic field to low density magnetic field. this mirror effect will only occur for particles within a limited range of velocity and angle of approach. magnetic mirrors are made of specialized electromagnets designed to create a highly inhomogeneous field. large magnetic mirrors have been used experimentally as a means of plasma confinement. one major application being researched is to confine the hot, electrically charged plasma gases inside a fusion reactor to generate fusion power. a category of experimental fusion reactors called mirror machines confine plasma within a magnetic field between two magnetic mirrors. the largest to be built was the mirror fusion test facility (mftf) in 1986. a charged particle moving within a region of magnetic field will experience a lorentz force which will cause it to move in a helical (corkscrew) path along a magnetic field line. the radius of the circle that the particle describes is called the radius of gyration or gyroradius. if it enters a region of denser magnetic field lines, a field gradient, the combination of the radial component of the fields and the azimuthal motion of the particle results in a force pointed against the gradient, in the direction of lower magnetic field. it is this force that can reflect the particle, causing it to decelerate and reverse direction.fitzpatrick, richard. "magnetic mirrors." home page for richard fitzpatrick. the university of texas at austin, 31 mar. 2011. web. 19 july 2011. . == history == thumbnail|the tandem mirror experiment (tmx) in 1979 thumbnail|this is a picture of the 1978, 2x magnetic bottle experiment. fred coensgen is pictured. thumbnail|this is a picture of the mftf during construction the concept of magnetic-mirror plasma confinement was proposed in mid-1950s independently by gersh budkerin russian: fizika plazmy i problema upravlyaemykh termoyadernykh reaktsii, vol. 3, p. 1 (moscow: izd. an sssr, 1958); in english: g. i. budker, plasma physics and the problem of controlled thermonuclear reactions, vol. 3, pp. 1-33 (pergamon press, 1959) at the kurchatov institute, russia and richard f. postr. f. post, proc. of second u.n. int. conf. on peaceful uses of atomic energy, vol. 32, p. 245 (geneva, 1958) at
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