Macroscopic plasma behavior in a high‐voltage toroidal theta pinch

The behavior of the implosion and post‐implosion phases of two different toroidal high‐beta plasma configurations has been investigated. The plasma is produced in a nominally axisymmetric toroidal theta pinch in which a tokamak‐like low‐beta plasma is heated and compressed to high beta by a fast‐rising toroidal field. The two plasma cases differed from each other by the direction of their initial toroidal magnetic field relative to the direction of the main implosion magnetic field. The purpose of this investigation was to determine what factors govern the development and lifetime of the magnetic configuration during the early time post‐implosion phase. It was determined from the q profiles for the parallel field case that the plasma should be unstable to the m=1 kink mode, i.e., q<1, but the normal outward shift of the plasma with respect to the external conducting wall carried it into the internal vacuum chamber wall before the kink could grow to an observable level. The magnetic fields in the case with...