TMX-U thermal-barrier experiments

Thermal-barrier experiments in the Tandem Mirror Experiment Upgrade (TMX-U) are reported, along with progress made at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in plasma confinement and central-cell heating. Thermal barriers in TMX-U improved axial confinement by two orders of magnitude over a limi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inIEEE transactions on plasma science Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 1 - 10
Main Authors Simonen, T.C., Allen, S.L., Barter, J.D., Casper, T.A., Correll, D.L., Carter, M.R., Clauser, J.F., Dimonte, G., Foote, J.H., Futch, A.H., Goodman, R.K., Grubb, D.P., Hill, D.N., Hooper, E.B., Hornady, R.S., James, R.A., Molvik, A.W., Nexsen, W.E., Porter, G.D., Rognlien, T.D., Silver, E.H., Stallard, B.W., Turner, W.C., Wood, R.D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, NY IEEE 01.02.1988
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Subjects
Cyclotrons
Electrons
Exact sciences and technology
Heating
Laboratories
Loss measurement
Magnetic confinement and equilibrium
Mirrors
Physics
Physics of gases, plasmas and electric discharges
Physics of plasmas and electric discharges
Plasma confinement
Plasma temperature
Radio frequency
Temperature distribution
Magnetic configuration
Plasma confinement
Tandem mirror configuration
Experimental study
Thermal barrier
Plasma heating
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Thermal-barrier experiments in the Tandem Mirror Experiment Upgrade (TMX-U) are reported, along with progress made at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in plasma confinement and central-cell heating. Thermal barriers in TMX-U improved axial confinement by two orders of magnitude over a limited range of densities, compared with confinement in single-cell mirrors at the same ion temperature. It is shown that central-cell radial nonambipolar confinement scales as neoclassical theory and can be eliminated by floating the end walls. Radial ambipolar losses can also be measured and reduced. The electron energy balance is improved in tandem mirrors to near classical, resulting in T/sub e/ up to 0.28 keV. Electron cyclotron heating (ECH) efficiencies up to 42%, with low levels of electron microinstability, were achieved when hot electrons in the thermal barrier were heated to average betas as large as 15%. The hot-electron distribution was measured from X-rays and is modeled by a Fokker-Planck code that includes heating from cavity radio-frequency (RF) fields.< >
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0093-3813
1939-9375
DOI:10.1109/27.3782