Plasma Jet Injection of Angular Momentum in the Maryland Centrifugal Experiment

79317S The centrifugal confinement of plasma in a magnetic mirror machine would have great potential for achieving fusion energy if a sufficient rotation rate could be induced in the plasma. Current techniques have successfully utilized crossed electric and magnetic fields to induce rotation and increase centrifugal confinement, but this requires a central conductive core, which can introduce difficulties in scaling up to fusion reactor size. One way to increase the plasma rotation rate is by the direct injection of very-high-velocity plasma jets. In this project, a pulsed plasma jet injector will be designed, fabricated, and installed on the Maryland Centrifugal Experiment. Experiments will then be performed to demonstrate the injection of slugs of plasma at 60 km/s into a mirror confined plasma, in an attempt to induce an enhanced centrifugal rotation of that plasma and improve its plasma confinement capability. Diagnostic measurements will confirm the increased rotation rate. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: In addition to the application for the development of commercial fusion power, plasma jets should find use in the refuelling of magnetically confined plasmas, as high specific impulse thrusters for space, in laboratory simulations of astrophysical jets, for very fast switches for pulsed power applications, and in materials processing.