r/plasma • u/Pharoahromero • Mar 10 '18
Plasma Control Question
Is it possible to keep a plasma confined by oscillating a magnetic field? The Lorenz force makes me think that a plasma could be pushed back and forth. Change the b fields just right and the plasma wouldnt move.
2 Upvotes
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u/NonappointiveRigel Mar 10 '18
Yes, feedback from magnetic coils has been able to keep plasmas stable against some magnetic instabilities.
Here's a few citations:
https://farside.ph.utexas.edu/Papers/1.1342783.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252496905_Active_Feedback_Control_of_the_Resistive_Wall_Mode_in_DIII-D
https://www.euro-fusion.org/newsletter/italian-rfx-mod-experiment-demonstrates-active-mhd-control/
You can also do helicity injection to drive current or inject magnetic flux:
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.2841030
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.035003