Behaviour of laser-produced high-β plasmas in a spindle-cusp magnetic container

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Abstract
Detailed experimental measurements have been made of the time-dependent behaviour of high- beta plasmas ( beta <or approximately=0.6) produced by a focused laser beam irradiating thin solid target wires of polyethylene or aluminium at the null-field of a spindle-cusp magnetic container. The ring cusp width is shown to increase from 0.6 to 2.9 times the local ion gyro-radius as the value of plasma beta decreases from 0.6 to below 0.2 during the confinement phase. The re-thermalisation of particle energy in the cusp container, the relatively rapid penetration of magnetic fields into the cusp plasma volume, and the containment properties of spindle-cusps for high- beta plasmas are discussed.