TY - JOUR

T1 - Plasma flow suppression by the linear helical mirror system

AU - Sudnikov, Anton V.

AU - Ivanov, Ivan A.

AU - Inzhevatkina, Anna A.

AU - Larichkin, Mikhail V.

AU - Lomov, Konstantin A.

AU - Postupaev, Vladimir V.

AU - Tolkachev, Mikhail S.

AU - Ustyuzhanin, Viktor O.

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. Parts of the study related to the particle balance (§ ) were supported by the grant of the President of the Russian Federation SP-1242.2021.2. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © The Author(s), 2022.

PY - 2022/2/14

Y1 - 2022/2/14

N2 - The paper presents experimental results from the SMOLA device that is the first facility with a helical mirror section of the magnetic system. This device was built in the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics for the verification of the helical mirror confinement idea that is the technique of an active control of axial losses from a confinement zone. Theory predicts that, with rotating plasma, a helical mirror will provide suppression of the axial plasma flow and, simultaneously, density pinching to the axis. Experiments demonstrated the increase in plasma density in the entrance trap by a factor of 1.6 in the helical configuration. The integral axial flux from the transport section drops severalfold. The effective mirror ratio of the helical section was Reff> 10. Particle flux returning by the helical mirror section towards the confinement zone was observed. At high corrugation ratios, the axial flux direction is different at the magnetic axis and in the periphery of the plasma in the helical section. All axial fluxes scale linearly with the plasma density, even if the ion mean free path is comparable to the total length of the helical section. Good agreement of the experimental results with theoretical predictions is found.

AB - The paper presents experimental results from the SMOLA device that is the first facility with a helical mirror section of the magnetic system. This device was built in the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics for the verification of the helical mirror confinement idea that is the technique of an active control of axial losses from a confinement zone. Theory predicts that, with rotating plasma, a helical mirror will provide suppression of the axial plasma flow and, simultaneously, density pinching to the axis. Experiments demonstrated the increase in plasma density in the entrance trap by a factor of 1.6 in the helical configuration. The integral axial flux from the transport section drops severalfold. The effective mirror ratio of the helical section was Reff> 10. Particle flux returning by the helical mirror section towards the confinement zone was observed. At high corrugation ratios, the axial flux direction is different at the magnetic axis and in the periphery of the plasma in the helical section. All axial fluxes scale linearly with the plasma density, even if the ion mean free path is comparable to the total length of the helical section. Good agreement of the experimental results with theoretical predictions is found.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85123992071&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/S0022377821001276

DO - 10.1017/S0022377821001276

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85123992071

VL - 88

JO - Journal of Plasma Physics

JF - Journal of Plasma Physics

SN - 0022-3778

IS - 1

M1 - 905880102

ER -