Contents I. Introduction
Magnetized plasma compression, also known as Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) is a scheme for compressing and heating plasma to fusion conditions that uses magnetic inhibition of electron thermal conduction, which greatly reduces the required implosion velocity and density - radius product relative to un-magnetized inertial fusion concepts [1]. One version of MTF is to use reversed field theta pinch discharges to form the Field reversed Configuration (FRC) type of Compact Toroid, which ideally has only poloidal field, and no toroidal field, inject it into a metal shell or liner, and to implode that liner by magnetic pressure from either a high current Z-pinch or high current theta pinch discharge through the liner [1], [2]. We report here on progress in developing the Z-pinch driven liner approach. We previously reported on the design and successful demonstration of an imploding aluminum liner with height to diameter ratio, radial convergence, uniformity, and implosion velocity suitable for compressing an FRC [3]. Our recent progress has been to replace the more standard sliding liner-electrode contacts with deformable liner-electrode contacts, which enables the use of large electrode apertures, suitable for FRC injection. See Fig. 1 for a illustration of this concept.
