Progress on formation of field reversed configurations suitable for subsequent compression to magnetized target fusion conditions

Summary form only given. The design, calculations, and experimental progress on forming Field Reversed Configuration's (FRCs) suitable for subsequent compression by an imploding metal liner to Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) conditions are presented and discussed. The desired initial FRC parameters are density /spl sim/1017 cm/sup -3/, temperature /spl sim/100 to 300 eV, length /spl sim/30 cm, separatrix radius /spl sim/2.5 cm, magnetic field between separatrix and liner /spl sim/5 Tesla. This effort is being pursued using the 36 mf, 250 kilojoule Colt capacitor bank at LANL, and using the 110 mf, 750 kilojoule formation capacitor bank (FB), which is auxiliary to the 1300 mf, 9 megajoule Shiva Star capacitor bank at AFRL, as well as smaller auxiliary banks to drive smaller, related solenoids. Crowbarring of both the Colt and FB facilities will be done, using triggered pressurized railgap switches. Initial FRC diagnostics include laser interferometry and magnetic field probe arrays (to observe field exclusion, that is, diamagnetic effect). Later experiments will include spectroscopy for impurity detection and temperature measurement, and Thompson scattering. The 30 cm long, 5 cm initial radius, 0.11 cm thick Al liner is imploded by magnetic pressure from an 11 megamp axial discharge driven by the 1300 mf Shiva star capacitor bank. Initial successful implosions are reported Transactions on Plasma Science (Degnan, 2001). Other aspects of FRC formation and compression were discussed by K. Schoenberg, R. Siemon et al. (1998). 2D-MHD simulations of planned FRC formation are also presented. These predict that with 100 milliTorr deuterium gas prefill, which corresponds to /spl sim/6/spl times/10/sup 15/ cm/sup -3/ initial ion/atomic density, /spl sim/0.5 Tesla initial bias axial magnetic field, and /spl sim/3 ms risetime, 5 Tesla reverse bias field, that the desired density and temperature FRC is formed.