Measurements of plasma isorotation on MCX
Author: Catalin Teodorescu
Requested Type: [none selected]
Submitted: 2006-12-15 09:45:26
Co-authors: R. Clary, R. Lunsford, R.F.Ellis, A.B. Hassam
Contact Info:
University of Maryland
1202L Energy Research Facility
College Park, MD 20742
USA
Abstract Text:
The Maryland Centrifugal Experiment (MCX) studies magnetically confined rotating plasma for fusion. Plasma is generated in a shaped mirror geometry magnetic field (mirror ratio~ 8) by applying a static electric field perpendicular to the magnetic field. The dominant motion is the ExB drift in a hydrogen plasma. Other drifts are smaller, typically because of the smallness of the gyroradius -- there are 50-100 proton gyroradii across the field. MHD theory predicts that plasma angular velocity should be constant on a field line. Measurements on the isorotation of the plasma as obtained from spectroscopic measurements of the Doppler shift of impurity and neutral lines are presented. The species angular velocity is measured simultaneously at the midplane and at 80 cm off-midplane. The dependency of the species angular velocity on the magnetic field - for fixed mirror ratio - as well as on the mirror ratio, applied voltage and static fill pressure is documented experimentally.
Characterization: A5
Comments:
