Discharge characteristics and dynamics of a magnetized current-carrying line-tied plasma

Abstract

Discharge characteristics and dynamic behaviors of a current-carrying line-tied (screw pinch) plasma have been experimentally studied. Besides its compactness, the novelty of this design is to utilize a single plasma source for both arc discharge and beam extraction, providing a plasma current of up to 2 kA with an injection voltage of 1.2 kV. The electron density and temperature of the screw pinch plasma were measured to be ∼1020 m−3 and ∼6 eV, respectively, depending on the operating parameters and magnetic field topology. The estimated Kruskal–Shafranov instability current limit of 1.58 kA was confirmed by high-speed camera measurement. The initial experimental results showed that the strength and topology of the magnetic field played a crucial role in the discharge characteristics and dynamic behaviors of the current-carrying line-tied plasma.