Plasma confinement in the toroidal multipole

DEC 01, 1967

Controlled thermonuclear fusion as a source of power awaits the development of a suitable method of plasma containment. The toroidal multipole system may offer fundamental advantages that are explored in these experiments.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3034058

Tihiro Ohkawa

Norman Rostoker

PLASMA CONFINEMENT SYSTEMS of various kinds have been studied in many countries for more than 15 years, with the attainment of controlled thermonuclear fusion as the aim. Most of the effort, particularly recently, has been devoted to stellarators; the largest machines are the C Stellarator at the plasma physics laboratory of Princeton University and the Tokomak at the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow. More recently experiments with toroidal multipole devices have shown that the containment time may be at least ten times that for stellarators, by reducing the loss of plasma density through “pumpout” or Bohm diffusion, a turbulence effect that had been the limiting factor of earlier machines.

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More about the Authors

Tihiro Ohkawa. General Atomic.

Norman Rostoker. Cornell.