Demo

International Atomic Energy Agency Nuclear Fusion Nucl. Fusion 59 (2019) 112009 (16pp) https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/ab0be9
Formation of hot, stable, long-lived field-reversed configuration plasmas on the C-2W device
H. Gota1 , M.W. Binderbauer1 , T. Tajima1, S. Putvinski1, M. Tuszewski1, B.H. Deng1 , S.A. Dettrick1 , D.K. Gupta1 , S. Korepanov1,
R.M. Magee1 , T. Roche1 , J.A. Romero1 , A. Smirnov1, V. Sokolov1,
Y. Song1, L.C. Steinhauer1 , M.C. Thompson1 , E. Trask1 , A.D. Van Drie1, X. Yang1, P. Yushmanov1, K. Zhai1 , I. Allfrey1, R. Andow1,
E. Barraza1, M. Beall1 , N.G. Bolte1 , E. Bomgardner1, F. Ceccherini1,
A. Chirumamilla1, R. Clary1, T. DeHaas1, J.D. Douglass1, A.M. DuBois1 ,
A. Dunaevsky1, D. Fallah1, P. Feng1, C. Finucane1, D.P. Fulton1, L. Galeotti1, K. Galvin1, E.M. Granstedt1 , M.E. Griswold1, U. Guerrero1, S. Gupta1,
K. Hubbard1, I. Isakov1, J.S. Kinley1, A. Korepanov1, S. Krause1,
C.K. Lau1 , H. Leinweber1, J. Leuenberger1, D. Lieurance1, M. Madrid1,
D. Madura1, T. Matsumoto1, V. Matvienko1, M. Meekins1, R. Mendoza1,
R. Michel1, Y. Mok1, M. Morehouse1, M. Nations1 , A. Necas1,
M. Onofri1, D. Osin1, A. Ottaviano1 , E. Parke1, T.M. Schindler1 ,
J.H. Schroeder1, L. Sevier1, D. Sheftman1 , A. Sibley1, M. Signorelli1,
R.J. Smith1 , M. Slepchenkov1, G. Snitchler1, J.B. Titus1, J. Ufnal1,
T. Valentine1, W. Waggoner1, J.K. Walters1, C. Weixel1, M. Wollenberg1,
S. Ziaei1, L. Schmitz2, Z. Lin3, A.A. Ivanov4, T. Asai5 , E.A. Baltz6,
J.C. Platt6 and the TAE Team1
1 TAE Technologies, Inc., Foothill Ranch, CA, United States of America
2 University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America
3 University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States of America
4 Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
5 Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan
6 Google LLC, Mountain View, CA, United States of America
E-mail: hgota@tae.com
Received 23 November 2018, revised 8 February 2019 Accepted for publication 1 March 2019
Published 5 June 2019
Abstract
TAE Technologies’ research is devoted to producing high temperature, stable, long-lived field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasmas by neutral-beam injection (NBI) and edge biasing/control. The newly constructed C-2W experimental device (also called ‘Norman’) is the world’s largest compact-toroid (CT) device, which has several key upgrades from the preceding C-2U device such as higher input power and longer pulse duration of the NBI system as well as installation of inner divertors with upgraded electrode biasing systems. Initial C-2W experiments have successfully demonstrated a robust FRC formation and
its translation into the confinement vessel through the newly installed inner divertor with adequate guide magnetic field. They also produced dramatically improved initial FRC states with higher plasma temperatures (Te ~ 250 + eV; total electron and ion temperature >1.5 keV, based on pressure balance) and more trapped flux (up to ~15 mWb, based on rigid-rotor model) inside the FRC immediately after the merger of collided two CTs in the confinement section. As for effective edge control on FRC stabilization, a number of edge biasing schemes
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