Slow Formation and Sustainment of Spheromaks by a Coaxial Magnetized Plasma Source

Abstract
Two steps have been taken towards determining if the flux absorption and relaxation properties of a spheromak will allow dc-powered electrodes to form and sustain a steady-state spheromak. Without changing the physical properties of the spheromak, the formation time was increased from an Alfvén time to a tearing time, reducing the coaxial source power from ∼ 10 GW to ∼ 500 MW. With use of ∼ 50 MW, spheromaks were formed and then sustained at constant density and field for 1 ms, much longer than a magnetic-energy decay time.

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