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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Optimized Setup and Protocol for Magnetic Domain Imaging with In Situ Hysteresis Measurement
Published on: November 7, 2017
Inductive sustainment of a field-reversed configuration stabilized by shaping, magnetic diffusion, and
S P Gerhardt1, E V Belova, M Yamada
1Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, P.O. Box 451 Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA.
Abstract:
Oblate field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasmas are sustained for up to 350 micros, or approximately 15 poloidal flux-confinement times, in the magnetic reconnection experiment. The diamagnetic equilibrium is maintained in argon plasmas as a balance of an inward pinch and outward diffusion. Numerical and analytic models show that the observed stability is provided by a combination of plasma shaping, magnetic diffusion, and finite-Larmor radius effects. FRCs formed with lighter ions, which benefit less from these stabilizing effects, succumb to rapid instability and cannot be sustained.
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