Initial results from the ZT-P experiment

The ZT-P experiment, with a major radius of 0.45 m and a minor radius of 0.07 m, was designed to prototype the next generation of reversed field pinch machines at Los Alamos. ZT-P utilizes an air-core poloidal field system, with precisely wound and positioned rigid copper coils, to drive the plasma current and provide plasma equilibrium with intrinsically low magnetic field errors. ZT-P also incorporates a modular design to facilitate assembly and disassembly and allow for rapid replacement of various liner/shell assemblies. The primary mission of ZT-P is to aid in the engineering design of future high current RFP devices and to complement the RFP physics research presently under investigation on ZT-40M. ZT-P will provide a test bed for many engineering aspects of large air-core machine design. These include, but are not limited to, plasma formation and equilibrium control with an air-core system, performance and reliability of the air-core poloidal and toroidal field circuit design, data acquisition and experimental control in the presence of high ambient magnetic fields and transient voltages