Observation of scaling laws of ion confining potential versus thermal barrier depth and of axial particle confinement time in the tandem mirror GAMMA 10

In the thermal barrier tandem mirror GAMMA 10, the scaling law governing the enhancement of the ion confining potential, ϕc, resulting from thermal barrier formation, is obtained experimentally, and is consistently interpreted in terms of the weak and strong ECH theories set up by Cohen and co-workers. The scaling law on the axial particle confinement time, τp||, related to this ϕc formation, is also demonstrated in detail; it is in good agreement with the Pastukhov theory as modified by Cohen and co-workers. This scaling is verified at any radial position in the core plasma region and at any time through the various stages of a discharge; this indicates a scaling with drastic improvement of τp||, due to the potential formation in the tandem mirror plasma.