Observation of self-organized FRC formation in a collisional-merging experiment

Tomohiko Asai; Daichi Kobayashi; Taichi Seki; Yasuaki Tamura; Tatsuhiro Watanabe; Naoto Sahara; Tsutomu Takahashi; Jordan Morelli; Hiroshi Gota; Thomas Roche; Richard Magee; Michl Binderbauer; Toshiki Tajima; Michiaki Inomoto; Toshiki Takahashi

doi:10.1088/1741-4326/ac189c

Observation of self-organized FRC formation in a collisional-merging experiment

Tomohiko Asai, Daichi Kobayashi, Taichi Seki, Yasuaki Tamura, Tatsuhiro Watanabe, Naoto Sahara, Tsutomu Takahashi, Jordan Morelli, Hiroshi Gota, Thomas Roche, Richard Magee, Michl Binderbauer, Toshiki Tajima, Michiaki Inomoto, Toshiki Takahashi

College of Science and Technology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Self-organized field-reversed configuration (FRC)-like formation was observed after the super-sonic/Alfvénic collisional merging of two FRCs in the FAT-CM device at Nihon University. In this experiment, two FRCs were generated initially in two separate field-reversed theta-pinch type formation regions. Those two formation regions are coaxially connected to opposite ends of a cylindrical confinement chamber. The formed FRCs are oppositely-translated and collide in the middle of the confinement chamber at super-sonic/Alfvénic velocity. During the collision, the merged plasmoid experiences destructive disturbance and loses its fast toroidal flow and characteristic FRC property of having a field-reversed magnetic configuration to become a magnetized plasma without ordered structure. After this dynamic collision, a magnetic configuration of FRC with fast toroidal rotation is self-organized within a few tens of microseconds. This observation indicates robustness of the extremely high-beta, simple magnetic configuration.

Original language	English
Article number	096032
Journal	Nuclear Fusion
Volume	61
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/ac189c
Publication status	Published - Sept 2021

Keywords

collisional merging
field-reversed configuration
self-organization

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10.1088/1741-4326/ac189c

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title = "Observation of self-organized FRC formation in a collisional-merging experiment",

abstract = "Self-organized field-reversed configuration (FRC)-like formation was observed after the super-sonic/Alfv{\'e}nic collisional merging of two FRCs in the FAT-CM device at Nihon University. In this experiment, two FRCs were generated initially in two separate field-reversed theta-pinch type formation regions. Those two formation regions are coaxially connected to opposite ends of a cylindrical confinement chamber. The formed FRCs are oppositely-translated and collide in the middle of the confinement chamber at super-sonic/Alfv{\'e}nic velocity. During the collision, the merged plasmoid experiences destructive disturbance and loses its fast toroidal flow and characteristic FRC property of having a field-reversed magnetic configuration to become a magnetized plasma without ordered structure. After this dynamic collision, a magnetic configuration of FRC with fast toroidal rotation is self-organized within a few tens of microseconds. This observation indicates robustness of the extremely high-beta, simple magnetic configuration.",

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author = "Tomohiko Asai and Daichi Kobayashi and Taichi Seki and Yasuaki Tamura and Tatsuhiro Watanabe and Naoto Sahara and Tsutomu Takahashi and Jordan Morelli and Hiroshi Gota and Thomas Roche and Richard Magee and Michl Binderbauer and Toshiki Tajima and Michiaki Inomoto and Toshiki Takahashi",

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doi = "10.1088/1741-4326/ac189c",

language = "English",

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AU - Asai, Tomohiko

AU - Kobayashi, Daichi

AU - Seki, Taichi

AU - Tamura, Yasuaki

AU - Watanabe, Tatsuhiro

AU - Sahara, Naoto

AU - Takahashi, Tsutomu

AU - Morelli, Jordan

AU - Gota, Hiroshi

AU - Roche, Thomas

AU - Magee, Richard

AU - Binderbauer, Michl

AU - Tajima, Toshiki

AU - Inomoto, Michiaki

AU - Takahashi, Toshiki

PY - 2021/9

Y1 - 2021/9

N2 - Self-organized field-reversed configuration (FRC)-like formation was observed after the super-sonic/Alfvénic collisional merging of two FRCs in the FAT-CM device at Nihon University. In this experiment, two FRCs were generated initially in two separate field-reversed theta-pinch type formation regions. Those two formation regions are coaxially connected to opposite ends of a cylindrical confinement chamber. The formed FRCs are oppositely-translated and collide in the middle of the confinement chamber at super-sonic/Alfvénic velocity. During the collision, the merged plasmoid experiences destructive disturbance and loses its fast toroidal flow and characteristic FRC property of having a field-reversed magnetic configuration to become a magnetized plasma without ordered structure. After this dynamic collision, a magnetic configuration of FRC with fast toroidal rotation is self-organized within a few tens of microseconds. This observation indicates robustness of the extremely high-beta, simple magnetic configuration.

AB - Self-organized field-reversed configuration (FRC)-like formation was observed after the super-sonic/Alfvénic collisional merging of two FRCs in the FAT-CM device at Nihon University. In this experiment, two FRCs were generated initially in two separate field-reversed theta-pinch type formation regions. Those two formation regions are coaxially connected to opposite ends of a cylindrical confinement chamber. The formed FRCs are oppositely-translated and collide in the middle of the confinement chamber at super-sonic/Alfvénic velocity. During the collision, the merged plasmoid experiences destructive disturbance and loses its fast toroidal flow and characteristic FRC property of having a field-reversed magnetic configuration to become a magnetized plasma without ordered structure. After this dynamic collision, a magnetic configuration of FRC with fast toroidal rotation is self-organized within a few tens of microseconds. This observation indicates robustness of the extremely high-beta, simple magnetic configuration.

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SN - 0029-5515

VL - 61

JO - Nuclear Fusion

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ER -

Observation of self-organized FRC formation in a collisional-merging experiment

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Keywords

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