Final Techical Report - "Determining How Magnetic Helicity Injection Really Works"
- California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
This research program involved direct observation of the complicated plasma dynamics underlying spheromak formation. Spheromaks are self-organizing magnetically dominated plasma configurations which potentially offer a simple, low-cost means for confining the plasma in a controlled thermonuclear fusion reactor. The spheromak source used in these studies was a coaxial co-planar magnetized plasma gun which was specifically designed to have the simplest relevant geometry. The simplicity of the geometry facilitated understanding of the basic physics and minimized confusion that would otherwise have resulted from complexities due to the experimental geometry. The coaxial plasma gun was mounted on one end of a large vacuum tank that had excellent optical access so the spheromak formation process could be tracked in detail using ultra-high speed cameras. The main accomplishments of this research program were (1) obtaining experimental data characterizing the detailed physics underlying spheromak formation and the development of new theoretical models motivated by these observations, (2) determining the relationship between spheromak physics and astrophysical jets, (3) developing a new high-speed camera diagnostic for the SSPX spheromak at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, and (4) training graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.
- Research Organization:
- California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-98ER54461
- OSTI ID:
- 836847
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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