Microstability theory for the field reversed configuration. Final report

Technical Report · Wed Nov 05 04:00:00 EST 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/587980· OSTI ID:587980

Krall, N A

This report summarizes the work done in the last contract period. Previous work has been described in Annual Performance Reports. The work carried on under this Research Grant and not included in previous progress and annual reports includes two distinct items. One work is a study of the nonlocal high beta microstability of the FRC (Field Reversed Configuration), which they began sometime ago. This study identified the limiting beta (=4{pi}nT/B{sup 2}) for the mode to remain unstable. The study found that as beta increases, the wavenumbers (k{sub y}, K{sub z}) for maximum growth changes, so that the limiting beta is not the one found by fixing (k{sub y}, K{sub z}) and increasing beta. It also appears that the criterion for nonlocal terms to influence the result, as beta increases, is substantially weaker than might have been thought. The authors identify the parameter that determines this effect. This study is presented as Appendix 1 of this report. The second study is of the effect of collisions on the lower hybrid drift instability. The result is that the effect of collisions is substantially more important than might have been expected. These two studies are in different stages of completion. The second is in fact complete, and could be published virtually as is, although it would benefit from a small amount of numerical analysis. The first study is far richer than the second, in that it includes a variety of regimes and effects. The formulation presented in it could e used as the basis for a series of papers, although in its present stage it is not ready for publication. It is unfortunate, but the level of the research Grant, and its untimely end, did not permit further progress on that study.

• Research Organization: Krall Associates, Del Mar, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG03-88ER53280
• OSTI ID: 587980
• Report Number(s): DOE/ER/53280--11; ON: DE98004396
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
MAGNETIC FIELD REVERSAL
PLASMA MICROINSTABILITIES
PLASMA WAVES
PROGRESS REPORT
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
REVERSE-FIELD PINCH