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Title: Confinement improvement with rf poloidal current drive in the reversed-field pinch

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10142387· OSTI ID:10142387
; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Wisconsin Univ., Madison, WI (United States). Dept. of Physics
  2. University of Montana, Missoula, MT (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

External control of the current profile in a reversed-field pinch (RFP), by means such as rf poloidal current drive, may have beneficial effects well beyond the direct reduction of Ohmic input power due to auxiliary heating. Reduction of magnetic turbulence associated with the dynamo, which drives poloidal current in a conventional RFP, may allow operation at lower density and higher electron temperature, for which rf current drive becomes efficient and the RFP operates in a more favorable regime on the n{tau} vs T diagram. Projected parameters for RFX at 2 MA axe studied as a concrete example. If rf current drive allows RFX to operate with {beta} = 10% (plasma energy/magnetic energy) at low density (3 {times} 10{sup 19} m{sup {minus}3}) with classical resistivity (i.e. without dynamo-enhanced power input), 40 ms energy confinement times and 3 keV temperatures will result, matching the performance of tokamaks of similar size.

Research Organization:
Wisconsin Univ., Madison, WI (United States). Plasma Physics Research
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
FG02-85ER53198
OSTI ID:
10142387
Report Number(s):
DOE/ER/53198-236; ON: DE94010005; BR: AT051011A/AT0530020; TRN: 94:007609
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 8 Mar 1994
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English