Experimental evidence of a zonal magnetic field in a toroidal plasma

A zonal magnetic field is found in a toroidal plasma. The magnetic field has a symmetric bandlike structure, which is uniform in the toroidal and poloidal directions and varies radially with a finite wavelength of mesoscale, which is analogous to zonal flows. A time-dependent bicoherence analysis reveals that the magnetic field should be generated by the background plasma turbulence. The discovery is classified as a new kind of phenomenon of structured magnetic field generation, giving insight into phenomena such as dipole field generation in rotational planets.     

Hamilton flow generated by field lines near a toroidal magnetic surface

A method is described for obtaining the Hamiltonian of a vacuum magnetic field in a given 3D toroidal magnetic surface (superconducting shell). This method is used to derive the expression for the integrable surface Hamiltonian in the form of the expansion of a rotational transform of field lines on embedded near-boundary magnetic surfaces into a Taylor series in the distance from the boundary. This expansion contains the value of the rotational transform and its shear at the boundary surface. It is shown that these quantities are related to the components of the first and second quadratic forms of the boundary surface.     

Observation of plasma toroidal-momentum dissipation by neoclassical toroidal viscosity

Dissipation of plasma toroidal angular momentum is observed in the National Spherical Torus Experiment due to applied nonaxisymmetric magnetic fields and their plasma-induced increase by resonant field amplification and resistive wall mode destabilization. The measured decrease of the plasma toroidal angular momentum profile is compared to calculations of nonresonant drag torque based on the theory of neoclassical toroidal viscosity. Quantitative agreement between experiment and theory is found when the effect of toroidally trapped particles is included.     

Hamilton-Jacobi theory for continuation of magnetic field across a toroidal surface supporting a plasma pressure discontinuity

The vanishing of the divergence of the total stress tensor (magnetic plus kinetic) in a neighborhood of an equilibrium plasma containing a toroidal surface of discontinuity gives boundary and jump conditions that strongly constrain allowable continuations of the magnetic field across the surface. The boundary conditions allow the magnetic fields on either side of the discontinuity surface to be described by surface magnetic potentials, reducing the continuation problem to that of solving a Hamilton-Jacobi equation. The characteristics of this equation obey Hamiltonian equations of motion, and a necessary condition for the existence of a continued field across a general toroidal surface is that there exist invariant tori in the phase space of this Hamiltonian system. It is argued from the Birkhoff theorem that existence of such an invariant torus is also, in general, sufficient for continuation to be possible. An important corollary is that the rotational transform of the continued field on a surface of discontinuity must, generically, be irrational.     

Improvement of confinement in tokamaks by weakening of poloidal magnetic field near boundary

Theory of turbulent equipartition and experiment indicate that density, pressure, and temperature profiles follow the poloidal magnetic field profile. Therefore, it is suggested to change the magnetic geometry between core and boundary by toroidal conductors and/or plasma current. As a result, density and temperature gradients will become steeper, and stored energy will be higher with low boundary plasma parameters. The suggested new mode of confinement may substantially simplify achieving of ignition.     

Roles of electric field on toroidal magnetic confinement

Theoretical research on the influence of electric field on toroidal magnetic confinement is surveyed. The static electric field is first described. A physical picture of the radial electric field generation and its influence on confinement are shown. Neoclassical effects as well as the non-classical processes are discussed. Emphasis is made on the connection with improved confinement. Convective cells with a nonuniform potential on the magnetic surface are also discussed. The roles of the fluctuating electric field are then reviewed. Recent progress in anomalous transport theory is addressed. Through these surveys, the impact of experiments using the heavy ion beam probes on modern plasma physics is illustrated     

Low pressure toroidal glow discharge in a radial magnetic field

By measuring the force acting on a flag suspended in a plasma flow the plasma velocity has been estimated. For case when η ? σ B²_r Kracík's theory has been verified experimentally.     

EAST极向场线圈及磁测量系统的修正

采用网格法计算空间磁场,应用最小二乘法优化极向场线圈、单匝环、磁探针位置参数及标定系数获得了更准确的位置坐标,明显地改善了磁场和磁通的计算误差,也为等离子体平衡反演算法提供更准确的格林函数。     

Modeling of plasma behavior in a plasma electrode Pockels cell

We present three interrelated models of plasma behavior in a plasma electrode Pockels cell (PEPC). In a PEPC, plasma discharges are formed on both sides of a thin, large-aperture electro-optic crystal (typically KDP). The plasmas act as optically transparent, highly conductive electrodes, allowing uniform application of a longitudinal field to induce birefringence in the crystal. First, we model the plasma in the thin direction, perpendicular to the crystal, via a one-dimensional fluid model. This yields the electron temperature and the density and velocity profiles in this direction as functions of the neutral pressure, the plasma channel width, and the discharge current density. Next, me model the temporal response of the crystal to the charging process, combining a circuit model with a model of the sheath which forms near the crystal boundary. This model gives the time-dependent voltage drop across the sheath as a function of electron density at the sheath entrance. Finally, we develop a two dimensional MHD model of the planar plasma, in order to calculate the response of the plasma to magnetic fields. We show how the plasma uniformity is affected by the design of the current return, by the longitudinal field from the cathode magnetron, and by fields from other sources. This model also gives the plasma sensitivity to the boundary potential at which the top and bottom of the discharge are held. We validate these models by showing how they explain observations in three large Pockels cells built at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory     

Observation of long-distance radial correlation in toroidal plasma turbulence

This Letter presents the discovery of macroscale electron temperature fluctuations with a long radial correlation length comparable to the plasma minor radius in a toroidal plasma. Their spatiotemporal structure is characterized by a low frequency of ～1-3 kHz, ballistic radial propagation, a poloidal or toroidal mode number of m/n=1/1 (or 2/1), and an amplitude of ～2% at maximum. Nonlinear coupling between the long-range fluctuations and the microscopic fluctuations is identified. A change of the amplitude of the long-range fluctuation is transmitted across the plasma radius at the velocity which is of the order of the drift velocity.     

Measurement of the current sheet during magnetic reconnection in a toroidal plasma

The current and magnetic-field fluctuations associated with magnetic-field-line reconnection have been measured in the reversed field pinch plasma configuration. The current sheet resulting from this reconnection has been measured. The current layer is radially broad, comparable to a magnetic-island width, as may be expected from current transport along magnetic-field lines. It is much larger than that predicted by resistive MHD for linear tearing modes and larger than prediction from two-fluid linear theory.     

Effect of radio frequency field on toroidal plasma parameters

Low temperature plasma parameters in a toroidal magnetic field are measured. The effect of an externally applied perpendicular electric field on the plasma parameters is studied. The lifetime of the plasma is measured in the presence and absence of the RF electric field. Decrease in the plasma lifetime in the presence of RF field is attributed to detrapping of the primary electrons to a larger volume. Plasma lifetime increases when a small vertical magnetic field is added to the toroidal magnetic field.     

Quasi-adiabatic compression of a plasma column by a longitudinal magnetic field

Approximate 1.5-dimensional MHD equations are derived that describe the quasi-adiabatic compression of a thin plasma column by a longitudinal magnetic field. The parameters of the compressed plasma are obtained analytically as functions of the initial conditions and longitudinal field. The stability of plasma compression against the Rayleigh-Taylor instability is investigated. It is shown that, in the Z-Θ-pinch geometry, increasing the longitudinal magnetic field makes it possible to achieve radial compression ratios of 20–30 without violating the cylindrical symmetry of the column. The possibility of thermonuclear ignition in a thin plasma column in a Z-Θ-pinch configuration is studied. The ranges of the initial plasma densities and temperatures and the initial lengths of the plasma column that are needed to achieve ignition in a plasma compressed by a factor of 20–30 are determined. The parameters of the electromagnetic energy source required to achieve such a high plasma compression are estimated.     

Azimuthal surface waves at the plasma-metal boundary in a nonuniform toroidal magnetic field

The propagation of electromagnetic surface waves with extraordinary polarization across the circular axis of a metal ring in a magnetized plasma is studied using perturbation theory. The amplitude of the fundamental mode of these waves is determined to within second-order terms, and the amplitudes of the nearest satellite modes are found correct to first-order terms. The correction to the eigenfrequency that comes from the nonuniformity of a constant toroidal magnetic field is shown be a second-order quantity.     

Excitation of magnetic field by Langumuir oscillations in a rotating plasma

Tadzhik State University. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 405–410, April, 1989.     

Manipulating negative-refractive behavior with a magnetic field

We demonstrated a construction of negative-index material (NIM) with epsilon(eff)=mu(eff)=-1 employing ferrites only, with no metallic components. Our design of the NIM is motivated by recent coherent potential approximation results and corroborated by exact numerical calculation demonstrating the negative refraction of an electromagnetic beam, with equal incident and refraction angles, as well as by the slab imaging phenomena, with the source-image separation twice as the slab thickness. The ferrite only based scheme furnishes the fabricated NIM with magnetically tunable working frequency, less loss and the air-matched wave impedance.