Abstract
Confinement of ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) plasmas in the GAMMA 10 tandem mirror [Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 159 (1985)] has been investigated. Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability is provided by the axisymmetrized minimum-B system. Ion confining and thermal barrier potentials are produced only by electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH). Ions are heated to several keV and hot ion modes, where Ti/Te≳(mi/me)1/3, are produced. Ion pressure in the central cell increases approximately linearly both with the power radiated from the antennas and with the magnetic field. A record ion temperature of about 10 keV is obtained at the maximum magnetic field (∼0.57 T). Thermonuclear fusion neutrons are detected in a deuterium/hydrogen mixture plasma for the first time in a tandem mirror. In typical GAMMA 10 operations, strong radial electric fields are naturally produced, and density fluctuations are suppressed. Axial confinement of the core plasma is consistent with the classical potential confinement, indicating radial confinement is better than axial confinement.
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