Flute stabilization due to ponderomotive force created by an rf field with a variable gradient

Abstract

An rf-stabilization experiment was performed in the axisymmetric single-mirror device HIEI by controlling the radial-gradient scale length of the rf field with the aid of an azimuthally phased antenna array. The flute stability depends sensitively on the scale length of the perpendicular rf electric field, which shows that rf stabilization is caused by the ponderomotive force for ions.