The Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment (SSPX) is a program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States established to investigate spheromak plasma.

A spheromak device produces a plasma in magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium mainly through self-induced plasma currents, as opposed to a tokamak device which depends on large externally generated magnetic fields. The series of experiments examines the potential for a spheromak device to contain fusion fuel. According to a 1999 abstract,

The Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment, SSPX , will study spheromak physics with particular attention to energy confinement and magnetic fluctuations in a spheromak sustained by electrostatic helicity injection.

See also

  • Magnetohydrodynamics
  • Magnetic helicity
  • Magnetic reconnection
  • Turbulence

References

External links

  • Science@Livermore - Press release
  • Fusion Energy Program publications
  • The Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment: A Short Overview at the Wayback Machine (archived September 17, 2006)
  • Romero-Talamas, Investigations of Spheromak plasma dynamics, Ph.D. thesis
  • Selected abstracts:
    • Romero-Talamas, Spheromak formation and sustainment studies
    • Wang, Large-amplitude electron density
    • Hooper, Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment

Timeintegrated spectra from four Sustained Spheromak Physics

Figure 1 from Final Report Sustained Spheromak Physics Project FY 1997

Swarthmore spheromak experiment. Lines of sight for IDS and probe

(PDF) Investigations of Spheromak plasma dynamics Highspeed imaging

(PDF) NIMROD resistive simulations of spheromak physics