Evidence of stabilization in the Z-pinch - art. no. 205005

Theoretical studies have predicted that the Z-pinch can be stabilized with a sufficiently sheared axial flow [U. Shumlak and C. W. Hartman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 3285 (1995)]. A Z-pinch experiment is designed to generate a pla sma which contains a large axial flow. Magnetic fluctuations and velocity p rofiles in the plasma pinch are measured. Experimental results show a stabl e period which is over 700 times the expected instability growth time in a static Z-pinch. The experimentally measured axial velocity shear is greater than the theoretical threshold during the stable period and approximately zero afterwards when the magnetic mode fluctuations are high.