Energy confinement of the Finite ß Plasmas in the Gas Dynamic Trap

The Gas Dynamic Trap (GDT) is an axisymmetric mirror device with a high mirror ratio to confine a collisional plasma and a minority of fast ions. The latter are produced in the trap by oblique, high-power neutral beam (NB) injection into the collisional target plasma. The recent upgrade of the NB system resulted in an increase of the power maximum during the pulse from 2.5 to almost 4.5 MW. Under the new experimental situation were studied: the transport and stability of the high-ß plasma, the cross-field tranport and the detailed energy balance of the fast ions.
The paper reports on the measurement techniques used and on the results achieved.