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 as well as its translation into the confinement vessel through the newly installed inner divertor with adequate guide magnetic field. They also produced dramatically improved initial FRC parameters with higher plasma temperatures (Te up to 300 eV; total electron and ion temperature >1.5 keV) 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 biasing/control on FRC stabilization, a number of edge biasing schemes have been tried via open-fieldlines, in which concentric electrodes located in both inner and outer divertors as well as end-on plasma guns are electrically biased independently. As a result of effective outer-divertor electrode biasing alone, FRC plasma diamagnetism duration has reached up to ~9 ms which is equivalent to C-2U plasma duration. Magnetic field flaring/expansion in both inner and outer divertors plays an important role in creating a thermal insulation on open-field-lines to reduce a loss rate of electrons, which leads to improvement of the edge as well as core FRC confinement properties.

Shear driven instabilities are commonly observed in the near-Earth space, particularly in boundary layer plasmas. When the shear scale length (LE) is much less than the ion gyro-radius (ρi) but greater than the electron gyro-radius (ρe), the electrons are magnetized in the shear layer, but the ions are effectively un-magnetized. The resulting shear driven instability, the electron-ion hybrid (EIH) instability, is investigated in a new interpenetrating plasma configuration in the Auburn Linear EXperiment for Instability Studies. In order to understand the dynamics of magnetospheric boundary layers, the EIH instability is studied in the presence of a density gradient located at the boundary layer between two plasmas. This paper reports on a recent experiment in which electrostatic lower hybrid waves are identified as the EIH instability, and the effect of a density gradient on the instability properties are investigated.

No abstract

We report experimental evidence of a seamless transition between three distinct modes in a magnetized plasma with a transverse sheared flow as the ratio of the ion gyroradius to the shear scale length (a measure of shear magnitude) is varied. This was achieved using a dual plasma configuration in a laboratory experiment, where a sheared flow oriented perpendicular to a background magnetic field is localized at the boundary of the plasmas. This confirms the basic theory that plasma is unstable to transverse velocity shear in a broad frequency and wavelength range. The experiment characterizes the compression or relaxation of boundary layers often generated in a variety of laboratory and space plasma processes.

For a wide variety of laboratory and space plasma environments, theoretical predictions state that plasmas are unstable to inhomogeneous flows over a very broad frequency range. Such sheared flows are generated in the Earth's magnetosphere and intensify during active periods. Specifically, for a velocity shear oriented perpendicular to a uniform background magnetic field, the shear scale length (L E ) compared to the ion gyroradius ( ρ i ) determines the character of the shear-driven instability that may prevail. An interpenetrating plasma configuration is used to create a transverse velocity shear profile in a magnetized plasma column, a condition similar to that found in the natural boundary layers. The continuous variation of ρ i /L E and the associated transition of the instability regimes driven by the shear flow mechanism are demonstrated in a single laboratory experiment. Broadband wave emission correlated to increasing/decreasing stress (i.e., ρ i /L E ), a characteristic signature of a boundary layer crossing, is found under controlled and repeatable conditions. This result holds out the promise for understanding the cause and effect of the in situ observation of broadband electrostatic noise.