Helimak (under construction)

The Helimak, provides a confined plasma which reproduces many of the features, including magnetic curvature, magnetic shear, and plasma flows, that are generic to more complex magnetized plasma systems. Moreover, this is accomplished in an exceptionally simple geometry having a single, radial spatial dimension of variation, . Because of this high degree of symmetry, theory and modeling based on the simple toroidal sheared slab geometry can provide a much more rigorous theoretical description of the plasma than is possible in more complex plasma systems having lesser symmetry. The simplified geometry permits exact analytical solutions of the fundamental fluid plasma equilibrium and stability equations. The helimak is a cylindrically symmetric toroidal device consisting of the following elements: Toroidal conducting shell and vacuum chamber, Externally applied toroidal magnetic field (B), A poloidal magnetic field (Bp=Bz), Plasma heating and ionization source, and Biasable plates generate bulk plasma flow..