Magnetic reconnection of plasma toroids with co- and counter-helicity

Technical Report · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6764863· OSTI ID:6764863

Yamada, M; Ono, Y; Hayakawa, A; Katsurai, M ^[1]; Perkins, F W ^[2]

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1. Tokyo Univ. (Japan). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
2. Princeton Univ., NJ (USA). Plasma Physics Lab.

Magnetic reconnection phenomena are investigated taking into account all three vector components of the magnetic field in a laboratory experiment. Two toroidal magnetized plasmas carrying identical toroidal currents and poloidal field configurations are made to collide, thereby inducing magnetic reconnections, The directions of the toroidal field play an important role in the merging process. It is found that plasmas of anti-parallel helicity merge much faster than those of parallel helicity. It is also found that the reconnection rate is proportional to the initial relative velocity of the two plasma tori, suggesting that magnetic reconnection, in the present experiment, is forced phenomenon. 16 refs., 5 figs.

• Research Organization: Princeton Univ., NJ (USA). Plasma Physics Lab.
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/ER
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03073
• OSTI ID: 6764863
• Report Number(s): PPPL-2688; ON: DE90013501
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700202* -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Magnet Coils & Fields
ANNULAR SPACE
CLOSED CONFIGURATIONS
CONFIGURATION
HELICITY
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
SPACE
TOROIDAL CONFIGURATION