[en] Decay of the total magnetic helicity during the sawtooth relaxation in the MST Reversed-Field Pinch is much larger than the MHD prediction. However, the helicity decay (3--4%) is smaller than the magnetic energy decay (7--9%), modestly supportive of the helicity conservation hypothesis in Taylor's relaxation theory. Enhanced fluctuation-induced helicity transport during the relaxation is observed

[en] A local linear theory is proposed for a perpendicularly propagating drift instability driven by relative drifts between electrons and ions. The theory takes into account local cross-field current, pressure gradients and modest collisions as in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) (10). The unstable waves have very small group velocities in the direction of the pressure gradient, but have a large phase velocity near the relative drift velocity between electrons and ions in the direction of cross-field current. By taking into account the electron-ion collisions and applying the theory in the Harris sheet, we establish that this instability could be excited near the center of the Harris sheet and have enough efoldings to grow to large amplitude before it propagates out of the unstable region. Comparing with the other magnetic reconnection related instabilities (LHDI, MTSI et.) studied previously, we believe the instability we find is a favorable candidate to produce anomalous resistivity because of its unique wave characteristics, such as electromagnetic component, large phase velocity, and small group velocity in the cross current layer direction

[en] The development of texture in thin films under ion bombardment is due to the preferential growth of the aligned grains in the film relative to the unaligned grains. The difference in growth rates between aligned and unaligned grains causes the surface to roughen with increasing film thickness. Hence, the development of texture and roughness are rooted in the same physical processes; differential sputtering caused by ion channeling. Experiments were performed to test the validity of a model for the development of roughness and texture. Results of Nb films deposited onto Si substrates using ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) confirmed that both surface roughness and texture increase linearly with film thickness up to a critical value. That the critical thickness range is 114-250 nm supports a growth mechanism for texture development in Nb films

[en] The Large Helical device (LHD), now under construction is a Heliotron / torsatron device with a closed divertor system. The edge LHD magnetic structure has been studied in detail. A peculiar feature of the configuration is existence of edge surface layers, a complicated three dimensional magnetic structure. However it does not seem to hamper the expected divertor functions. As a confinement improvement scheme in LHD, we have proposed a high temperature divertor plasma operation in which a divertor plasma with temperature of a few kev, generated by efficient pumping, leads to the confinement improvement. Conceptual designs of the LHD divertor components are under way. (author)

[en] New computational results are presented which advance the understanding of the stability properties of the Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC). We present results of hybrid and two-fluid (Hall-MHD) simulations of prolate FRCs in strongly kinetic and small-gyroradius, MHD-like regimes. The n = 1 tilt instability mechanism and stabilizing factors are investigated in detail including nonlinear and resonant particle effects, particle losses along the open field lines, and Hall stabilization. It is shown that the Hall effect determines the mode rotation and change in the linear mode structure in the kinetic regime; however, the reduction in the growth rate is mostly due to the finite Larmor radius effects. Resonant particle effects are important in the large gyroradius regime regardless of the separatrix shape, and even in cases when a large fraction of the particle orbits are stochastic. Particle loss along the open field lines has a destabilizing effect on the tilt mode and contributes to the ion spin up in toroidal direction. The nonlinear evolution of unstable modes in both kinetic and small-gyroradius FRCs is shown to be considerably slower than that in MHD simulations. Our simulation results demonstrate that a combination of kinetic and nonlinear effects is a key for understanding the experimentally observed FRC stability properties

[en] We present an experiment designed to study magnetohydrodynamic effects in free-surface channel flow. The wide aspect ratio channel (the width to height ratio is about 15) is completely enclosed in an inert atmosphere to prevent oxidization of the liquid metal. A custom-designed pump reduces entrainment of oxygen, which was found to be a problem with standard centrifugal and gear pumps. Laser Doppler Velocimetry experiments characterize velocity profiles of the flow. Various flow constraints mitigate secondary circulation and end effects on the flow. Measurements of the wave propagation characteristics in the liquid metal demonstrate the surfactant effect of surface oxides and the damping of fluctuations by a cross-channel magnetic field

[en] We report the first experimental verification of the MHD dynamo in the RFP. A burst of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) dynamo electric field is observed during the sawtooth crash, followed by an increase in the local parallel current in the MST RFP edge. By measuring each term, the parallel MHD mean-field Ohm's law is observed to hold within experimental error bars both between and during sawtooth crashes

[en] We present a detailed study of fluctuations in a laboratory current sheet undergoing magnetic reconnection. The measurements reveal the presence of lower-hybrid-frequency range fluctuations on the edge of current sheets produced in the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX). The measured fluctuation characteristics are consistent with theoretical predictions for the lower-hybrid drift instability (LHDI). Our observations suggest that the LHDI does not provide any significant turbulent resistivity in MRX current sheets

[en] Global stability of the oblate (small elongation, E < 1) Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC) has been investigated numerically using both three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and hybrid (fluid electrons and kinetic ions) simulations. For every non-zero value of the toroidal mode number n, there are three MHD modes that must be stabilized. For n = 1, these are the interchange, the tilt and the radial shift; while for n > 1 these are the interchange and two co-interchange modes with different polarization. It is shown that the n = 1 tilt mode becomes an external mode when E < 1, and it can be effectively stabilized by close-fitting conducting shells, even in the small Larmor radii (MHD) regime. The tilt mode stability improves with increasing oblateness, however at sufficiently small elongations the radial shift mode becomes more unstable than the tilt mode. The interchange mode stability is strongly profile dependent, and all n * 1 interchange modes can be stabilized for a class of pressure profile with separatrix beta larger than 0.035. Our results show that all three n = 1 modes can be stabilized in the MHD regime, but the stabilization of the n > 1 co-interchange modes still remains an open question

[en] Measurement of the transverse resistivity was carried out in a reconnecting current sheet where the mean free path for the Coulomb collision is smaller than the thickness of the sheet. In a collisional neutral sheet without a guide field, the transverse resistivity is directly related to the reconnection rate. A remarkable agreement is found between the measured resistivity and the classical value derived by L. Spitzer. In his calculation the transverse resistivity for the electrons is higher than the parallel resistivity by a factor of 1.96. The measured values have verified this theory to within 30% errors