Observation of pinching in the compact toroid injection experiment: Implications for a plasma opening switch

A compact toroid inductively stores the energy released by a capacitor bank as it is being accelerated. This energy can be stored for a period of more than ten microseconds and then transferred to a load on a much shorter tim e scale. This article presents framing camera images of the radial compress ion of plasma trailing behind a compact toroid as the compact toroid leaves its inner electrode. This compression illustrates the basic principles of a compact toroid plasma opening switch which could be used to drive fast z pinches. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.