Induction response of plasma in nonadiabatic magnetic compression heating

Fast magnetic compression, where the compression time is shorter than the ion gyroperiod, is illustrated by a simple model. In this model the Vlasov--Ampere equation gives a Bernstein--Greene--Kruskal (BGK) stationary state at the so-called zero-β limit. It is possible to achieve hundreds of keV ion energy by the fast compression heating, because there is very little shielding from the plasma currents in the heating phase. Strong shielding appears when the compression has generated strongly phase-correlated oscillations of the ion orbits. Thresholds of plasma β for the appearance of ion stochasticity and ion trapping are estimated. Parameters in a 500 keV ion energy case are presented. copyright 1995 American Institute of Physics