[en] Ohmic heating to ignition in an RFP is a very attractive feature from a technological point of view. Heating and energy loss mechanisms are discussed and the heating and ignition phases of an RFP reactor are studied with a time dependent O-D model. The performance of a large device, RFX, is studied on the basis of the specified design figures. The study of the current rise time and flat top phases indicates that short rise times are not necessary but the possibility to sustain the current flat top for 120 ms with the available volt-seconds is marginal when realistic loss processes are considered. (author)

[en] We discuss upsets in erased floating gate cells, due to large threshold voltage shifts, using statistical distributions collected on a large number of memory cells. The spread in the neutral threshold voltage appears to be too low to quantitatively explain the experimental observations in terms of simple charge loss, at least in SLC devices. The possibility that memories exposed to high energy protons and heavy ions exhibit negative charge transfer between programmed and erased cells is investigated, although the analysis does not provide conclusive support to this hypothesis.

[en] In this paper the power balance of the plasma of the Reversed Field Pinch (RFP) experiment RFX (R = 2 m, a = 0.457 m), at toroidal current I_Φ ∼ 500 kA and in the range of density 2·10¹⁹ < n_e < 5·10¹⁹ m^-3, is analysed comparing the input power with the losses, including the effect of magnetic field line distortion due to plasma perturbations. (author) 9 refs., 4 figs

[en] The particle and energy transport mechanisms have been investigated in RFX. In the core the particle diffusivity and thermal conductivity are consistent with a stochastic magnetic field model. At the edge particle transport is mainly driven by electrostatic fluctuations, whereas radiation, electrostatic and magnetic turbulence account only for 50% of the total energy losses. (author)

No abstract available

[en] The energy flux carried by energetic electrons at the edge of the RFP experiment ETA BETA II has been derived by comparing the total heat collected by calorimetric probes oriented parallel and antiparallel to the magnetic field. Assuming that the energetic electrons flow along the stochastic magnetic field lines without undergoing collisions, the magnetic diffusion coefficient has been inferred from the radial behaviour of the energy flux. The diffusion coefficient is then compared with the magnetic fluctuation amplitude measured at the edge for different reversal of the toroidal field at the wall. It is found that the magnetic diffusion coefficient increases with magnetic fluctuations and the energy flux carried by energetic electrons decreases with Θ. (author)

[en] The energy transport in the outer region of the RFP experiment ETA BETA II has been experimentally investigated by measuring the energy flux intercepted by the surface of an insertable limiter, instrumented with heat flux probes. It has been found that the energy deposited on the surface facing the electron flow is almost an order of magnitude larger than that deposited on the opposite side. The spatial dependence of the energy flux has been studied and the results are reported for different main plasma densities. The results are explained by fast electrons flowing in the outer region of the plasma, parallel to the magnetic field in agreement with the results found in other RFP experiments. (Author)

[en] The first results obtained in the RFX reversed field pinch experiment after the 1995 machine modifications are reported. The confinement, for fully stationary discharges at 0.6 MA, has now reached the expected values, even in the presence of MHD wall locked modes. Studies on locked mode effects have evidenced currents flowing from the plasma into the vessel in the region of locking. Measurements on plasma rotation and radial electric field have shown a perpendicular velocity shear at the edge similar to what is found in tokamaks and stellarators. New measurements on edge superthermal electrons and some evidence of their correlation with plasma core characteristics are included. (author). 13 refs, 9 figs, 1 tab

[en] The particle and energy transport mechanisms have been investigated in RFX. In the core the particle diffusivity and thermal conductivity are consistent with a stochastic magnetic field model. At the edge particle transport is mainly driven by electrostatic fluctuations, whereas radiation, electrostatic and magnetic turbulence account only for 50% of the total energy losses. (author)

No abstract available