Proposed FRX-D experiment

The field-reversed-configuration (FRC) research program is poised for a significant step forward. Resolution of the critical FRC physics issues, which must now be addressed in order to advance the development of this concept, requires experimental studies in a plasma regime closer to reactor relevance than is possible with existing devices. The purpose of FRX-D is to extrapolate the parameters of FRC's into the required regime of large plasma size relative to an ion gyroradius i.e., large anti s. The critical issues that FRX-D will address are: (1) the FRC stability and confinement properties at large anti s; (2) the demonstration of adiabatic compression as an efficient, technologically attractive FRC heating method; (3) the identification of the dominant electron energy-loss mechanism, and; (4) the determination of the dependence of poloidal flux loss on electron temperature. An additional, more technologically oriented purpose of FRX-D is to demonstrate the separation of FRC formation and heating functions using the reactor-like technique of sequential formation/translation/compression