Session GP1 - Poster Session IV.
POSTER session, Tuesday afternoon, October 30
Exhibit Hall B,
Field Reversed Configurations (FRC) have been formed, accelerated to high velocity, and captured in the TCS device. This is necessary in order to achieve a hot (\sim500 eV), low density (\sim10^20 m^-3) FRC for Rotating Magnetic Field (RMF) current drive studies. Initial results show an approximate order of magnitude increase in T_i + T_e from thermalization of directed energy after reflection off the downstream confinement mirror. Low densities are desirable for RMF current drive, and low density FRC lifetimes are better than predictions based on high density scaling. Detailed studies of the FRC poloidal and toroidal fields, using a set of internal B probes, will be used to determine the origin of a flux enhancement observed after the first mirror reflection before any RMF is applied. FRC lifetimes have been degraded by impurities picked up during the reflection. A Tantalum shield has been installed on the wall of the conical mirror section, which should decrease impurity pickup. Hot (\sim500 eV), low density (\sim10^20 m^-3) FRCs are nearly ideal for RMF current drive, and these conditions are readily obtainable from translated FRCs.