Reversed Field Pinch plasma experiment at the Brazilian Institute for Spatial Research - INPE

Plasma experiments in CECI, a small Reserved Field Pinch (RFP) apparatus, is described. Preliminary measurements in this device have show the production of a plasma with peak current of 1.3 k A and discharge duration of nearly 80 μs, when a toroidal DC field of 100 G was used. A loop voltage of 40 V was measured and a maximum electron temperature of 3 eV was estimated for these discharges. Experimental points in the F-θ diagram for CECI indicate that its plasma is approaching the RFP configuration as the discharge is optimized. The probe data also show that the plasma column expands outward. Furthermore numerical results indicate that leakage fields have to be reduced below 5 G to form appropriate magnetic surfaces. These two effects seem to be limiting the plasma current. Hence a compensating vertical field coil is under preparation. (author). 7 figs, 2 refs