Physics Results from the National Spherical Torus Experiment
Authors: M.G. Bell for the NSTX Research Team
Date of PPPL Report: June 2000
Presented at: the 27th European Physical Society's (EPS) Conference on Controlled Fusion and Plasma Physics, June 12-16, 2000, Budapest, Hungary. A "Provisional Collection of Submitted Contributions" can be found at the following web site: http://www.eps2000.kfki.hu (active as of August 16, 2000). Papers are in PDF format.
The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is designed for studying toroidal plasma confinement at very low aspect-ratio, A=R/a = 0.85m/0.68m ~ 1.25, with cross-section elongation up to 2.2 and triangularity up to 0.5, for plasma currents up to 1 MA and vacuum toroidal magnetic fields up to 0.6 T on axis. Conducting plates are installed close to the plasma on the outboard side to stabilize kink modes. This should permit operation with toroidal-beta approaching 40% [1]. The plasmas will be heated by up to 6 MW High-Harmonic Fast Waves (HHFW) at a frequency 30 MHz and by 5 MW of 80 keV deuterium Neutral Beam Injection. Inductive plasma startup can be supplemented by the process of Coaxial Helicity Injection (CHI).