Boost of plasma current with active magnetic field shaping coils in rotamak discharges
- Plasma Physics Lab, Prairie View A and M University, Prairie View, Texas 77446 (United States)
A set of magnetic shaping coils is installed on the Prairie View (PV) rotamak for the study of active plasma shape control in the regimes with and without toroidal field (TF). In the spherical tokamak regime (with TF), plasma current I{sub p} can be boosted by 200% when all five shaping coils (connected in series) are energized. The enhancement of current drive efficiency is mainly attributed to the radial compression and the substantially axial extension of the plasma column; this in turn improves the impedance matching and thus increases antenna input power. In the field-reversed configuration (without TF), plasma current can be boosted by 100% when one middle coil is used; the appearance of radial shift mode limits the achievable value of I{sub p}. The experiments clearly demonstrate that the plasma shape control plays a role in effectively driving plasma current in rotamaks.
- OSTI ID:
- 22043370
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 18, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Suppression of n=1 Tilt Instability by Magnetic Shaping Coils in Rotamak Plasmas
Magnetic field structure evolution in rotating magnetic field plasmas