Review of Scientific Instruments -- September 2000 -- Volume 71, Issue 9, pp. 3351-3361

Plasma generation and confinement in a toroidal magnetic cusp

J. Egedal, A. Fasoli, M. Porkolab, and D. Tarkowski

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

The first measurements of plasma parameters in a discharge created by electron cyclotron resonance heating in a toroidal cusp configuration are discussed along with the predictions of particle orbits and confinement from a guiding center model. The configuration appears to be suitable for basic investigations of the physics of plasma flows and instabilities around a magnetic null, hence of magnetic reconnection. ©2000 American Institute of Physics.