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Demonstration of current drive by a rotating magnetic dipole field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2007

L. GIERSCH ,
J. T. SLOUGH  and
R. WINGLEE
L. GIERSCH
Affiliation:
University of Washington, Department of Earth and Space Science, Seattle, WA 98195, USA (louisg@u.washington.edu)
J. T. SLOUGH
Affiliation:
University of Washington, Department of Earth and Space Science, Seattle, WA 98195, USA (louisg@u.washington.edu)
R. WINGLEE
Affiliation:
University of Washington, Department of Earth and Space Science, Seattle, WA 98195, USA (louisg@u.washington.edu)
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Abstract.

A dipole-like rotating magnetic field was produced by a pair of circular, orthogonal coils inside a metal vacuum chamber. When these coils were immersed in plasma, large currents were driven outside the coils: the currents in the plasma were generated and sustained by the rotating magnetic dipole (RMD) field. The peak RMD-driven current was at roughly two RMD coil radii, and this current (60 kA m−) was sufficient to reverse the ambient magnetic field (33 G). Plasma density, electron temperature, magnetic field and current probes indicated that plasma formed inside the coils, then expanded outward until the plasma reached equilibrium. This equilibrium configuration was adequately described by single-fluid magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium, wherein the cross product of the driven current and magnetic filed was approximately equal to the pressure gradient. The ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic field pressure, β, was locally greater than unity.

Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 73 , Issue 2 , April 2007 , pp. 167 - 177
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

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