Power balance and characterization of impurities in the Maryland Spheromak

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10140807· OSTI ID:10140807

Cote, Claude ^[1]

---

1. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)

The Maryland Spheromak is a medium size magnetically confined plasma of toroidal shape. Low T_e and higher n_e than expected contribute to produce a radiation dominated short-lived spheromak configuration. A pyroelectric radiation detector and a VUV spectrometer have been used for space and time-resolved measurements of radiated power and impurity line emission. Results from the bolometry and VUV spectroscopy diagnostics have been combined to give the absolute concentrations of the major impurity species together with the electron temperature. The large amount of oxygen and nitrogen ions in the plasma very early in the discharge is seen to be directly responsible for the abnormally high electron density. The dominant power loss mechanisms are found to be radiation (from impurity line emission) and electron convection to the end walls during the formation phase of the spheromak configuration, and radiation only during the decay phase.

• Research Organization: Maryland Univ., College Park, MD (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: FG05-86ER53241
• OSTI ID: 10140807
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/53241--7-Pt.2; ON: DE94009603; BR: AT051011C/AT051011E
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700310
700330
ELECTRON TEMPERATURE
ENERGY BALANCE
ENERGY LOSSES
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
PARTICLE LOSSES
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA IMPURITIES
PLASMA KINETICS, TRANSPORT, AND IMPURITIES
PYROELECTRIC DETECTORS
SPHEROMAK DEVICES