Inward Transport of a Toroidally Confined Plasma Subject to Strong Radial Electric Fields

Abstract

The NASA Lewis bumpy torus experiment confines and heats a toroidal plasma by the simultaneous application of strong dc magnetic fields and electric fields. Digitally implemented spectral analysis techniques were used to investigate experimentally the frequency-dependent fluctuation-induced transport across the toroidal magnetic field. It was observed that when the electric field pointed radially inward, the fluctuation-induced ion flux was inward and a significant enhancement of the plasma density resulted.