Experiment on the Spatial Confinement of Plasma in the Heliotron B Magnetic Field

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Abstract
A magnetic field is produced by an electric current in a series of pair coils wound around the discharge tube at regular intervals. The electric current in each coil of the pair differs both in intensity and direction. The lines of force near the tube axis undulate without crossing the wall, while those near the tube wall cross the wall. Thus the high‐temperature plasma can be produced by Ohmic heating in the central region of the field. Experiments were carried out in order to verify the spatial confinement of the plasma in this field. The plasma current flows only within the central region whose mean‐cross‐section diameter is about 3 cm, and the plasma has a sharp boundary. Outside the region there is no current. The spectra from the hydrogen discharge are mainly composed of the pure Balmer series, and the impurity spectral lines are very weak or hardly perceptible. From these experimental results, it can be concluded that the hot plasma is almost perfectly isolated from the stainless‐steel‐tube wall by the Heliotron magnetic field and has very low impurity level.

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