Joint US/Russian plasma formation experiments for magnetic compression/magnetized target fusion (MAGO/MTF)

Magnetic compression/magnetized target fusion (MAGO/MTF) is an area of fusion research that is intermediate between magnetic fusion energy (MFE) and inertial confinement fusion (ICF) in time and density scales. In this paper, the authors report the results of experiments exploring a scheme for forming a hot, magnetized plasma possibly suited for subsequent implosion in a MAGO/MTF context. The experiment described here used a copper plasma formation chamber. The outer radius of the plasma volume was 10 cm. The chamber was initially filled with 10 Torr of 50% deuterium, 50% tritium gas seeded with 0.01% neon for diagnostic purposes. The chamber behavior was computationally modeled using two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic techniques.