In the quest for new energy sources, the research on controlled thermonuclear fusion 1 has been boosted by the start of the construction phase of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). ITER is based on the tokamak magnetic configuration 3, which is the best performing one in terms of energy confinement. Alternative concepts are however actively researched, which in the long term could be considered for a second generation of reactors. Here, we show results concerning one of these configurations, the reversed-field pinch 4,5 (RFP). By increasing the plasma current, a spontaneous transition to a helical equilibrium occurs, with a change of magnetic topology. Partially conserved magnetic flux surfaces emerge within residual magnetic chaos, resulting in the onset of a transport barrier. This is a structural change and sheds new light on the potential of the RFP as the basis for a low-magnetic-field ohmic fusion reactor.The main magnetic field configurations studied for the confinement of toroidal fusion-relevant plasmas are the tokamak 3 , the stellarator 6 and the reversed-field pinch 4,5 (RFP). In the tokamak, a strong magnetic field is produced in the toroidal direction by a set of coils approximating a toroidal solenoid, and the poloidal field generated by a toroidal current flowing into the plasma gives the field lines a weak helical twist. This is the configuration that has been most studied and has achieved the best levels of energy confinement time. Thus, it is the natural choice for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, which has the mission of demonstrating the scientific and technical feasibility of controlled fusion with magnetic confinement.The RFP, like the tokamak, is axisymmetric and exploits the pinch effect due to a current flowing in a plasma embedded in a toroidal magnetic field. The main difference is that, for a given plasma current, the toroidal magnetic field in a RFP is one order of magnitude smaller than in a tokamak, and is mainly generated by currents flowing in the plasma itself. This feature is underlying the main potential advantage of the RFP as a reactor concept, namely the capability of achieving fusion conditions with ohmic heating only in a much simpler and compact device. In the past, this positive feature was overcome by the poorer stability properties, which led to the growth and saturation of several magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities, eventually downgrading the confinement performance. These instabilities, represented by Fourier modes in the poloidal and toroidal angles θ and φ as exp [i(mθ − nφ) were considered as an unavoidable ingredient of the dynamo self-organization process 4,8,9 , necessary for the sustainment of the configuration in time. The occurrence of several MHD modes resonating on different plasma layers gives rise to overlapping magnetic islands, which result in a chaotic region, extending over most of the plasma volume 10 , where the magnetic surfaces are destroyed and the confinement level is modest. This conditi...

Locked ͑i.e., nonrotating͒ dynamo modes give rise to a serious edge loading problem during the operation of high current reversed field pinches. Rotating dynamo modes generally have a far more benign effect. A simple analytic model is developed in order to investigate the slowing down effect of electromagnetic torques due to eddy currents excited in the vacuum vessel on the rotation of dynamo modes in both the Madison Symmetric Torus ͑MST͒ ͓Fusion Technol. 19, 131 ͑1991͔͒ and the Reversed Field Experiment ͑RFX͒ ͓Fusion Eng. Des. 25, 335 ͑1995͔͒. This model strongly suggests that vacuum vessel eddy currents are the primary cause of the observed lack of mode rotation in RFX. The eddy currents in MST are found to be too weak to cause a similar problem. The crucial difference between RFX and MST is the presence of a thin, highly resistive vacuum vessel in the former device. The MST vacuum vessel is thick and highly conducting. Various locked mode alleviation methods are discussed.

A comprehensive stability analysis of the ion-temperature-gradient-driven mode in various parameter domains is presented. The effect of parallel ion dynamics on the threshold value in toroidal geometry is investigated for the short-wavelength and finite-shear limits. A general explicit expression for the threshold is given, which is in agreement with the results obtained by solving the full integrodifferential equation. The destabilizing effect of trapped electrons below the threshold is qualitatively similar to the results of local theory, but electron collisionality has to be sufficiently weak. In the long-wavelength limit, two branches exist, respectively, toroidal and slablike in character. The toroidal branch has been investigated elsewhere [Romanelli et al., Phys. Fluids l3 3, 2496]. In this paper, the stability of the slablike branch is studied both analytically and numerically. The trappedion effects on the threshold are discussed in detail,

Ion temperature gradient driven modes are studied in the short wavelength region by using a three pole reactive fluid model and an adiabatic E X B convection model, as well as the gyro-Landau fluid model. In all of the above models the parallel ion dynamics is included and the results have been compared both analytically and numerically. Furthermore, the effects of the magnetic safety factor q on the growth rate and transport coefficient xi have been investigated. The maximum of xi as a function of the mode number is computed, and the stabilizing effect of the negative magnetic shear has been studied.

RFX-mod is a reversed field pinch (RFP) experiment equipped with a system that actively controls the magnetic boundary. In this paper we describe the results of a new control algorithm, the clean mode control (CMC), in which the aliasing of the sideband harmonics generated by the discrete saddle coils is corrected in real time. CMC operation leads to a smoother (i.e. more axisymmetric) boundary. Tearing modes rotate (up to 100 Hz) and partially unlock. Plasma-wall interaction diminishes due to a decrease of the nonaxisymmetric shift of the plasma column. With the ameliorated boundary control, plasma current has been successfully increased to 1.5 MA, the highest for an RFP. In such regimes, the magnetic dynamics is dominated by the innermost resonant mode, the internal magnetic field gets close to a pure helix and confinement improves.