LSX, The World's Largest FRC Plasma Physics Experiment

The summer of 1990 marked the completion (on time and under budget) of a $14M very large reversed-field theta pinch experiment, called LSX (Large s Experiment), at STI Optronics. LSX is currently generating field reversed configurations (FRCs) with dimensions such that the physics has reactor relevance. The FRCs are formed using slow, programmed formation techniques which rely upon ohmic heating and axial compression heating rather than the more standard theta pinch method of radial shock heating [1,2]. Figure 1 demonstrates the FRC plasma geometry.