Start-up assist by magnetized plasma flow injection in TPE-RX reversed-field pinch

A reversed-field pinch (RFP) start-up assisted by a magnetized plasma flow injection was demonstrated for the first time on a TPE-RX machine. This sequence of experiments aimed to establish a new method of ionization, gas-fill and helicity injection in the start-up phase of an RFP. In this start-up method, magnetized and well-ionized plasma is formed by a magnetized coaxial plasma gun and injected into the torus chamber as an initial pre-ionized plasma for RFP formation. In the initial experiments, attenuated density pump-out and comparatively slow decay of the toroidal flux and plasma current were observed as evidence of its being an effective start-up method.