Abstract
A study was performed of the trapping and confinement of a cesium plasma in a magnetic mirror. Time-dependent plasma behavior was observed by injecting plasma pulses, created by means of a rotating shutter, into a Q machine. Reflection of short collisionless plasma pulses from a single magnetic mirror was observed, and a comparison of the experimental results with a computer simulation was used to obtain information about the ion velocity distribution function and about the dynamics of plasma-mirror interaction. Build up and decay of plasma in a magnetic mirror well was studied by injecting dense, collisional plasma pulses into the Q machine at the mirror throat. The density of plasma at the midplane of the mirror was seen to increase significantly due to trapping and the containment times observed were about 10 msec (approximately 10 transit times). The plasma decay rate was slower than would be expected for a collisionless mirror. A model, based on Coulomb scattering for the trapping and decay processes, gives predictions in good agreement with the experimental results.
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