PLASMA CONTAINMENT IN A MINIMUM-B GEOMETRY.

Abstract

The advantages of a toroidal plasma containment device are illustrated. Low loss rates are predicted. A toroidal magnetic field is crossed with a multi-cusp magnetic field in configurations predicted by electrolytic tank analog experiments. Three such configurations are described. The first, a relatively simple device with slowly varying fields, showed the inability of the toroidal field to penetrate a plasma and strong cusp field. The second toroid, with moderately fast fields and application of rotational transform principles, produced plasma-field separation, as evidenced by a hot, relatively dense plasma contained in a central region of reduced cusp field strength. The third toroid, featuring the fastest rising fields, produced similar though more pronounced results, including a three fold compression of a plasma heated to over 15 eV, with containment times on the order of 20 microsec. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1968
Accession Number
AD0669063

Entities

People

  • Charles C. Gallagher
  • Lewis S. Combes
  • Morton A. Levine

Organizations

  • Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Compression
  • Geometry
  • Magnetic Fields

Readers

  • Plasma Physics / Magnetohydrodynamics
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.