Physical Review Letters -- October 11, 1999 -- Volume 83, Issue 15, pp. 2969-2972

A. B. Hassam

Institute for Plasma Research, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742

R. M. Kulsrud, R. J. Goldston, H. Ji, and M. Yamada

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544

(Received 2 November 1998)

It is shown that the cross-field thermoelectric force of magnetized plasmas can maintain field-reversed configurations against resistive diffusion, resulting in a steady state device attractive for thermonuclear fusion. If a peaked radial temperature profile is maintained, the thermoelectric force is in the opposite direction to the usual resistive friction, thus maintaining the field configuration. The field maintenance is tantamount to dynamo action, operating even in two dimensions. We show that a steady state device can be made by simply heating the O-point: no external electric fields or particle sources are needed. The feasibility of this scheme for fusion is discussed.

PACS: 52.55.Dy

Full paper: pdf file (63 Kb) .

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