The reversed field pinch: progress and promise

The Reversed Field Pinch (RFP) is a fusion reactor concept which, like the tokamak, confines the reacting plasma by the magnetic field produced in part by electrical currents flowing in the toroidally-confined plasma. Unlike the tokamak, the RFP requires very little externally-applied magnetic field, and thus offers the promise of a compact reactor with high power density which can be ohmically heated to ignition using non-superconducting magnet coils. Recent progress worldwide in RFP performance and physics understanding offers the promise of a new generation of devices which approach reactor conditions