Observations of tilt instabilities in field-reversed configurations of a confined plasma

Journal Article · Sun Feb 10 23:00:00 EST 1991 · Physical Review Letters; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.66.711· OSTI ID:5694094

Tuszewski, M; Barnes, D C; Chrien, R E; Cobb, J W; Rej, D J; Siemon, R E; Taggart, D P; Wright, B L ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (US)

We report the first consistent observations of internal tilt instabilities in field-reversed configurations. Detailed comparisons with numerical calculations establish that data from an array of external magnetic probes are signatures of these destructive plasma instabilities. As suggested by finite-Larmor-radius theory, field-reversed configurations appear grossly stable when {ital s}/{ital e} ((average number of ion gyroradii)/(separatrix elongation)) is less than 0.2--0.3 and show MHD-like tilt instabilities when {ital s}/{ital e}{similar to}1.

• OSTI ID: 5694094
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters; (USA), Journal Name: Physical Review Letters; (USA) Vol. 66:6; ISSN PRLTA; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700107* -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Instabilities
AMPLITUDES
AZIMUTH
CORRELATIONS
DATA
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
INFORMATION
INSTABILITY
LARMOR RADIUS
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
MAGNETIC FIELD REVERSAL
MAGNETIC PROBES
NUMERICAL DATA
PLASMA
PLASMA INSTABILITY
PLASMA MACROINSTABILITIES
PROBES
TILTING INSTABILITY