Authors: George Votroubek John Slough
Publish Date: 2010/09/21
Volume: 29, Issue: 6, Pages: 571-576
Abstract
Magnetic fusion at high energy density requires compression of a magnetized target in a manner that can be repetitively performed One approach being investigated in these experiments is the radial compression of a FRC target by a cylindrical plasma liner A circular array consisting of 16 small coaxial plasma sources were placed at each end of a quartz chamber radially near the wall to form the plasma liner Liner masses of 3 mg have been formed in Xenon and have been accelerated to a velocity of 50 km/s An FRC was produced in an adjacent chamber and translated inside the plasma liner where thetapinch coils were employed to drive the plasma liner radially inward compressing the FRC Close agreement is found between experimental results and 2D MHD numerical calculations Efficient coupling ~50 between the compression bank and the plasma liner has been observed
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