Physics and Design of the Driven Relaxation Experiment (DRX) at Los Alamos

The Driven Relaxation Experiment (DRX) is under construction at LANL with first plasma scheduled for early 2007. Recent theoretical work by Tang \& Boozer\footnote{X. Z. Tang and A. H. Boozer, PRL~{\bf 94}, 225004 (2005).} has provided new insights into partially relaxed force-free plasmas, namely that nonlinearity removes the resonances of the linear force-free equation, and that new branches of relaxed states, such as the flipped spheromak and other high $\lambda$ states become energetically accessible. The primary research objective of DRX is to create and sustain a partially relaxed driven steady-state above the first linear resonance by ``over-driving'' a coaxial plasma gun with $\lambda_{\rm gun} \approx (2.5$--3)$\lambda_1$. Two other important objectives are to measure the spatial wave-number spectrum of magnetic energy for the relaxed states and to explore the dynamics of the relaxation. This poster will review the project theoretical motivations, experimental design, and construction status.