Resistive Instabilities In Reversed-field Confinement Configurations Without Shear

Abstract

A resistive mode with azimuthal mode number m = 1 is shown to exist in reversed-field confinement configurations without shear. The mode has an almost constant radial profile from the magnetic axis to the radius where the magnetic field vanishes; its growth rate scales with the 1/3 power of the plasma resistivity, and the corresponding perturbed displacement parallel to the field lines is much larger than the perpendicular one in the resistive region. This mode may lead to the splitting of the plasma column into many rings, and may also be a triggering mechanism for the rotational m = 1 instability that is observed in θ-pinch discharges. ©1981 American Institute of Physics.24466166