1979/04/01 by M. N. Rosenbluth, M. N. Bussac · 393 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Magnetic confinement fusion research #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Spheromak #Magnetohydrodynamics #Tokamak #Tearing #Physics #Spherical tokamak #Resistive touchscreen #Plasma #Mechanics #Stability (learning theory) #Instability #Ellipse #BETA (programming language) #Nuclear physics #Thermodynamics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0029-5515/19/4/007
published in Nuclear Fusion 19(4), 489-498 (IOP Publishing)
openalex publication_date 1979/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The 'Spheromak', an optimal force-free spherical plasma configuration, is analysed for its MHD stability properties. It is shown that flattened ellipse (oblimak) with = k (k independent of ) should be stable against all magnetically driven MHD and resistive tearing modes if surrounded by a conducting wall at about r w /r 0 = 1.15. β's of at least 2% can be stably confined, equivalent to 20% in tokamaks.