Ion heating in the field-reversed configuration (FRC) by rotating magnetic fields (RMF) near cyclotron resonance

Abstract

The trajectories of ions confined in a Solovev FRC equilibrium magnetic geometry and heated with a small-amplitude, odd-parity rotating magnetic field, have been studied with a Hamiltonian computer code. When the RMF frequency is in the ion-cyclotron range, explosive heating occurs. Higher-energy ions are found to have betatron-type orbits, preferentially localized near the FRC midplane. These results are relevant to a compact magnetic-fusion-reactor design.