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Theta-pinch, or θ-pinch, is a type of fusion power reactor design. The name refers to the configuration of currents used to confine the plasma fuel in the reactor, arranged to run around a cylinder in the direction normally denoted as theta in polar coordinate diagrams.
The FRC was first observed in laboratories in the late 1950s during theta pinch experiments with a reversed background magnetic field. [3] The original idea was attributed to the Greek scientist and engineer Nicholas C. Christofilos who developed the concept of E-layers for the Astron fusion reactor.
Reversed field pinch (MST, RFX-Mod Italy) Tokamak ( Spherical tokamak (MAST, NSTX ), Spheromak ( Dynomak , SSPX Lawrence Livermore)) Stellarator ( Wendelstein 7-X )
Toroidal machines can be axially symmetric, like the tokamak and the reversed field pinch (RFP), or asymmetric, like the stellarator.The additional degree of freedom gained by giving up toroidal symmetry might ultimately be usable to produce better confinement, but the cost is complexity in the engineering, the theory, and the experimental diagnostics.
The STX was motivated by a discovery from an unrelated experiment; a few years previously, the Large-S Experiment (LSX) had demonstrated the existence of a kinetically stabilized parameter regime which appeared advantageous for a fusion reactor. However, the LSX experiment formed FRCs in a power-hungry, violent way called a theta-pinch.
The q profile in a reversed field pinch The poloidal field in a reversed field pinch. A reversed-field pinch (RFP) is a device used to produce and contain near-thermonuclear plasmas. It is a toroidal pinch that uses a unique magnetic field configuration as a scheme to magnetically confine a plasma, primarily to study magnetic confinement fusion.
In the 1990s, the Large-S Experiment (LSX) had demonstrated that there exist kinetically stabilized regimes of operation in which FRC reactors could operate. However, the LSX used a method of forming FRCs called a theta-pinch, which does not allow FRCs to be further sustained and heated
Screw pinch – A combination of a Z-pinch and theta pinch [15] (also called a stabilized Z-pinch, or θ-Z pinch) [16] [17] Reversed field pinch or toroidal pinch – This is a Z-pinch arranged in the shape of a torus. The plasma has an internal magnetic field. As distance increases from the center of this ring, the magnetic field reverses ...