A Stable Toroidal Magnetized Plasma Created by Electron Cyclotron Resonance with Twisted Magnetic Field Lines

Abstract : A toroidal magnetized plasma is created by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) at 300 MHz. High quality confinement is obtained by adding a poloidal magnetic field created by a central conductor (Pierre T 2013 Rev. Sci. Instrum. 84 013504). The decay time of the ECR plasma is measured and found similar to the decay time obtained in the case of a thermionic discharge. The efficient ECR ionization and the high quality of the confinement lead to the production of a large volume magnetized plasma injecting only a watt-level power at UHF frequencies.