- Binderbauer, M. W;
- Guo, H. Y;
- Tuszewski, M.;
- Putvinski, S.;
- Sevier, L.;
- Barnes, D.;
- Rostoker, N.;
- Anderson, M. G;
- Andow, R.;
- Bonelli, L.;
- Brandi, F.;
- Brown, R.;
- Bui, D. Q;
- Bystritskii, V.;
- Ceccherini, F.;
- Clary, R.;
- Cheung, A. H;
- Conroy, K. D;
- Deng, B. H;
- Dettrick, S. A;
- Douglass, J. D;
- Feng, P.;
- Galeotti, L.;
- Garate, E.;
- Giammanco, F.;
- Glass, F. J;
- Gornostaeva, O.;
- Gota, H.;
- Gupta, D.;
- Gupta, S.;
- Kinley, J. S;
- Knapp, K.;
- Korepanov, S.;
- Hollins, M.;
- Isakov, I.;
- Jose, V. A;
- Li, X. L;
- Luo, Y.;
- Marsili, P.;
- Mendoza, R.;
- Meekins, M.;
- Mok, Y.;
- Necas, A.;
- Paganini, E.;
- Pegoraro, F.;
- Pousa-Hijos, R.;
- Primavera, S.;
- Ruskov, E.;
- Qerushi, A.;
- Schmitz, L.;
- Schroeder, J. H;
- Sibley, A.;
- Smirnov, A.;
- Song, Y.;
- Sun, X.;
- Thompson, M. C;
- Van Drie, A. D;
- Walters, J. K;
- Wyman, M. D
A hot stable field-reversed configuration (FRC) has been produced in the C-2 experiment by colliding and merging two high-beta plasmoids preformed by the dynamic version of field-reversed theta-pinch technology. The merging process exhibits the highest poloidal flux amplification obtained in a magnetic confinement system (over tenfold increase). Most of the kinetic energy is converted into thermal energy with total temperature (T(i) + T(e)) exceeding 0.5 keV. The final FRC state exhibits a record FRC lifetime with flux confinement approaching classical values. These findings should have significant implications for fusion research and the physics of magnetic reconnection.
