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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

A 100 KW Class Applied-field Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster
Published on: December 22, 2018
Effects of a vertical magnetic field on particle confinement in a magnetized plasma torus
S H Müller1, A Fasoli, B Labit
1Centre de Recherches en Physique des Plasmas, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. stefan.mueller@epfl.ch
Abstract:
The particle confinement in a magnetized plasma torus with superimposed vertical magnetic field is modeled and measured experimentally. The formation of an equilibrium characterized by a parallel plasma current canceling out the grad B and curvature drifts is described using a two-fluid model. Characteristic response frequencies and relaxation rates are calculated. The predictions for the particle confinement time as a function of the vertical magnetic field are verified in a systematic experimental study on the TORPEX device, including the existence of an optimal vertical field and the anticorrelation between confinement time and density.
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