Initial results from the Rotating Wall Machine
Abstract
A new experiment is being conducted at the University of Wisconsin to investigate the stabilization of the Resistive Wall Mode (RWM) through the use of rotating walls. The RWM is an external kink due to the imperfect confinement of the plasma current. The experiment is a linear screw pinch with a steady-state axial field of 1 kG and an axial current of up to 20 kA driven by an array of miniature plasma guns. The linear geometry allows for different wall boundary conditions to be applied to the magnetic field, including: insulating, resistive, conducting and ferromagnetic. In addition, a two wall system can be set up in which the second wall rotates poloidally with respect to the first. The external kink mode is monitored by a series of flux loops which measure the radial component of the magnetic field as it penetrates the wall. The experiment focuses on the investigation of the different boundary conditions and their effect on the kink mode. The poster illustrates results from initial experiments performed on this device. This work is supported by the DoE contract DE-FG02-00ER54603.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Plasma Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- October 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003APS..DPPGP1032A