Magnetohydrodynamically stable plasma with supercritical current density at the axis

Abstract

In this work, an analysis of magnetic perturbations in the GOL-3 experiment is given. In GOL-3, plasma is collectively heated in a multiple-mirror trap by a high-power electron beam. During the beam injection, the beam-plasma interaction maintains a high-level microturbulence. This provides an unusual radial profile of the net current (that consists of the beam current, current of the preliminary discharge, and the return current). The plasma core carries supercritical current density with the safety factor well below unity, but as a whole, the plasma is stable with q(a) ≈ 4. The net plasma current is counter-directed to the beam current; helicities of the magnetic field in the core and at the edge are of different signs. This forms a system with a strong magnetic shear that stabilizes the plasma core in good confinement regimes. We have found that the most pronounced magnetic perturbation is the well-known n = 1, m = 1 mode for both stable and disruptive regimes.