Transient loss of plasma from a theta pinch having an initially reversed magnetic field

The results of an experimental study of the transient loss of plasma from a 25-cm-long theta pinch initially containing a reversed trapped magnetic field are presented. The plasma, amenable to MHD analyses, was a doubly ionized helium plasma characterized by an ion density N/sub i/ = 2 x 1016 cm-3 and an ion temperature T/sub i/ = 15 eV at midcoil and by N/sub i/ = 0.5 x 1016 cm-3 and T/sub i/ = 6 eV at a position 2.5 cm beyond the end of the theta coil