3D Canonical Momentum Measurements During the Merging of Two Counter-Helicity Spheromaks

A pair of counter-helicity spheromaks can merge in two possible ways to form a single final compact toroid depending on their toroidal magnetic field direction. Magnetohydrodynamically, no difference should be expected but experimentally, a positive/negative merging or negative/positive merging will generate final compact toroids with different lifetimes and sizes. A pair of multichannel spectroscopic diagnostics have been installed on the TS-4 experiment with view chords designed for measuring 3D ion velocities and temperature. One set retrieves toroidal velocities and temperature from conventional Abel inversion. The second, novel arrangement retrieves poloidal velocities from 3D vector tomography reconstruction and temperature from scalar tomography. With in situ magnetic probe arrays, the ion canonical momentum is thus determined in the complete volume. The ion temperature at the reconnection plane is also evaluated [1]. Both sets of measurements are followed over several repeatable shots during the spheromak merging to also track the evolution of ion self-helicity.\\[0pt][1] Tanabe, You, Balandin, Ono, poster this meeting.