Hot electron confinement in a microwave heated spindle cusp

The Plasma Research Laboratory at the University of Missouri-Columbia was established with awards from the McDonnel Douglas Foundation, ARMCO, Union Electric, Black and Vetch, Kansas City Power and Light, the National Science Foundation, and DOE. The Plasma Research Lab's major effort is the Missouri Magnetic Mirror (MMM or M3) Project. The technical goals of MMM have been (1) Diagnostic Development, (2) Plasma Physics in the Cusp geometry, (3) plasma-wall interactions, (4) impurity effects in a steady-state plasma, and (5) Development of Diagnostics for use in harsh plasma processing environments. The other major goal of MMM has remained providing a facility for hands-on training in experimental plasma physics. The major experimental facility of MMM is the MMM Modified Experiment (M4X). Other research efforts in the Plasma Research Laboratory include small efforts in cold fusion, toroidal magnetic confinement, and inertial confinement and a potentially major effort in direct conversion of nuclear energy