Injection and Trapping of a β = 1 Plasma into a Cusped Magnetic Field

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Abstract
An experiment using a plasma gun as a source to inject a high‐velocity jet of plasma into a picket fence magnetic confinement system is described. The results show that a plasma jet having 5 × 1013 deuterons/cm3 and a mean directed kinetic energy of 1 kev/deuteron is able to traverse a 2‐kg magnetic barrier displacing the field completely in its path, i.e., traveling as a β = 1 plasma. Some focusing of the plasma jet occurs during the penetration which increases its density. If the plasma is injected into a higher field it mixes with the field and penetrates as a β < 1 plasma. These two phenomena combine so that the idealized sudden stopping of a given beam at a critical magnetic field (Bc2 > 12πρV2) is not observed. For fields <2000 gauss the plasma jet opens the entrance cusp for ≈ 3 μsec; a biconical diamagnetic region with β = 1 builds up within the picket fence volume and then decays with a time constant of 50 μsec. This indicates that some irreversible process does occur, trapping plasma within the magnetic confining field.

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