Progress in Mirror-Based Fusion Neutron Source Development.

The Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics in worldwide collaboration has developed a project of a 14 MeV neutron source for fusion material studies and other applications. The projected neutron source of the plasma type is based on the gas dynamic trap (GDT), which is a special magnetic mirror system for plasma confinement. Essential progress in plasma parameters has been achieved in recent experiments at the GDT facility in the Budker Institute, which is a hydrogen (deuterium) prototype of the source.

Threefold Increase of the Bulk Electron Temperature of Plasma Discharges in a Magnetic Mirror Device.

This Letter describes plasma discharges with a high temperature of bulk electrons in the axially symmetric high-mirror-ratio (R=35) open magnetic system gas dynamic trap (GDT) in the Budker Institute (Novosibirsk). According to Thomson scattering measurements, the on-axis electron temperature averaged over a number of sequential shots is 660±50  eV with the plasma density being 0.7×10^{19}  m^{-3}; in few shots, electron temperature exceeds 900 eV.

Influence of the shear flow on electron cyclotron resonance plasma confinement in an axisymmetric magnetic mirror trap of the electron cyclotron resonance ion source.

Influence of shear flows of the dense plasma created under conditions of the electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) gas breakdown on the plasma confinement in the axisymmetric mirror trap ("vortex" confinement) was studied experimentally and theoretically. A limiter with bias potential was set inside the mirror trap for plasma rotation. The limiter construction and the optimal value of the potential were chosen according to the results of the preliminary theoretical analysis.

First results from the modular multi-channel dispersion interferometer at the TEXTOR tokamak.

At the TEXTOR tokamak in Jülich, Germany, a modular dispersion interferometer was installed and operated for the first time. Equipped with four lines of sight, the line-integrated density could be measured in parallel at different major radii with a resolution of better than 3 × 10(17) m(-2). This paper will describe the setup and show the first measurement results.

Formation of a magnetic hole above the mirror-instability threshold in a plasma with sloshing ions.

Within the framework of paraxial approximation it is shown that in an anisotropic plasma with sloshing ions confined an open-ended system a magnetic hole is formed near the turning point of the sloshing ions above the threshold of the mirror instability. The magnetic field experiences a jump at the hole boundary from the side of the magnetic mirror. For a small excess over the mirror instability threshold, the surface of the discontinuity has the shape of a truncated paraboloid, and the magnitude of the magnetic field jump at the system axis is proportional to the radius of the hole and gradually decreases to zero away of the axis.

Development of a multichannel dispersion interferometer at TEXTOR.

The design and main characteristics of 14-channel dispersion interferometer for plasma profile measurement and control in TEXTOR tokamak are presented. The diagnostic is engineered on the basis of modular concept, the 10.6 microm CO(2) laser source and all optical and mechanical elements of each module are arranged in a compact housing.

Experimental evidence of high-beta plasma confinement in an axially symmetric gas dynamic trap.

In the axially symmetric magnetic mirror device gas dynamic trap (GDT), on-axis transverse beta (ratio of the transverse plasma pressure to magnetic field pressure) exceeding 0.4 in the fast ion turning points has been first achieved. The plasma has been heated by injection of neutral beams, which at the same time produced anisotropic fast ions.