Relaxed plasmas in external magnetic fields

The extension of the theory of relaxed plasmas to external magnetic fields whose field lines intersect the wall is concisely formulated and then applied to the Extrap experiment [J. R. Drake, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 26, 387 (1984)]. It is found that the external octupole field, though not affecting the phenomenon of current saturation, inhibits field reversal at parts of the wall if it is sufficiently strong to generate magnetic x points within the plasma.